On May 26, 1999, Complainant filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Employment
Relations
Commission alleging that the D.C. Everest Area School District had committed prohibited
practices
in violation of Section 111.70(3)(a)1 and 3, Stats., when the administration recommended
Complainant's layoff and the School Board members approved the same and rejected his
application
for full-time employment. On August 14, 2000, Respondent filed an answer denying that it
had
committed the alleged prohibited practices. On August 1, 2000, the Wisconsin Employment
Relations Commission appointed Coleen A. Burns, a member of its staff, as Examiner to
conduct the
hearing on the complaint and to make and issue Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and
Order in
the matter as provided in Sections 111.70(4)(a) and 111.07, Stats. Hearing in the matter was
conducted on October 17, 18, 19, 23, and 24; November 30; and December 1, 6, 7, and 8,
2000;
January 10, 11, and 12, 2001; and April 3

Dec. No. 29946-L

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Dec. No. 29946-L

and 5, 2001. A stenographic transcript was made of the hearing and the parties
submitted their post-hearing briefs by April 9, 2002. Based upon consideration of the
evidence and the arguments of the
parties, the Examiner makes and issues the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law
and
Order.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. George Mudrovich, hereafter Complainant, was employed by the D.C. Everest
Area
School District as a part-time French teacher in the Junior High from the 1995-96 school
until his
layoff on June 23, 1998. At all times material hereto, Complainant was a resident of
Wausau,
Wisconsin.

2. D.C. Everest Area School District, hereafter District, is a municipal employer
with a
principal address at 6300 Alderson, Schofield, Wisconsin, 54476. At all times material
hereto, Roger
Dodd, Robert Knaack, and Michael Sheehan have been employed by the District and have
acted on
behalf of the District in their capacity as District Administrator, Junior High School
Principal, and
Junior High School Vice-Principal, respectively.

3. While employed as a teacher with the District, Complainant was a member of
the
collective bargaining unit represented by the D.C. Everest Teacher's Association, hereafter
DCETA
or Association, and was subject to a collective bargaining agreement that was negotiated
between the
Association and the District. This agreement contains a procedure for filing and processing
grievances, which procedure culminates in final and binding arbitration. This agreement
defines a
grievance as "a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this contract" and a
grievant
as "a teacher, the Association or a group of teachers with a grievance on an identical issue."
Article
10(F) of this agreement states as follows:

Standard for Discipline: No teacher shall be
discharged, non-renewed, suspended, reduced in
rank or compensation or deprived of any professional advantage except for just cause.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, teachers may be otherwise disciplined or reprimanded for
reasons that
are not arbitrary or capricious. Any such action, including adverse evaluation of teacher
performance
asserted by the Board or representatives thereof shall be subject to the grievance procedure
set forth
herein.

At times, UniServ Director Tom Coffey represented the DCETA. On January 18,
2000, Arbitrator
Raymond E. McAlpin issued an Award that stated the following: "Grievance denied." The
issue
presented to Arbitrator McAlpin, by stipulation of the parties, is "Did the District violate
Articles 10,
32(B)(5), 32(E), and/or 32(I) when it laid off the grievant from his 80% position, and failed
to
appoint him to 100% position for the '98-99 school year? If so, what is the remedy?"

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Dec. No. 29946-L

4. When Complainant commenced his employment with the District he was a 50%
FTE
teacher and taught three periods of French. Dodd was not involved in hiring Complainant.
Knaack,
a District Principal for over thirty years, was on the interview team that selected
Complainant for his
50% position and was aware of the size of the applicant pool for this part-time position.
Complainant
was one of two individuals interviewed for this position. District records establish the
number of
individuals interviewed for a position. The District does not maintain records that establish
the
number of individuals that apply for a position. Dodd commenced employment with the
District in
1980. During his employment with the District, Dodd has been an Assistant Principal and
Principal.
Dodd became the District Administrator in July of 1995. In March of 1996, Complainant
received
a 65% teaching contract for the 1996-97 school year, which increased his teaching load from
three
to four periods of French. In March of 1997, Complainant received an 80% teaching
contract for
the 1997-98 school year. Prior to receiving the additional 15%, Knaack asked Complainant
if he
would be interested in the additional work and Complainant responded in the affirmative.
Complainant received the additional 15% without having to post, or submit a written request,
for the
additional FTE. Under this contract, Complainant was assigned four periods of French and
two
supervisions. Complainant was assigned additional supervision because movement to the
house
concept resulted in existing full-time staff having less time available for supervision duties.
Complainant has a BA in French and is certified to teach Secondary Education. From the
commencement of his employment with the District, Complainant had the impression that
Ann Berns,
the other French language teacher, thought she was his supervisor; attempted to tell him what
to do;
and had no interest in hearing his opinion, including his opinion on things that he knew
better, such
as the correct pronunciation of French words. Berns, who has a Master's Degree in French
Literature, was hired in January of 1994 and taught full-time, primarily at the Senior High.
When,
in Complainant's view, Berns tried to tell him what to do, he would tell Berns that she was
not his
supervisor. Berns' view of the situation is that Complainant would not cooperate with her
attempts
to coordinate their teaching timelines and develop appropriate curriculum for the French
program.
When Berns met with Complainant in an attempt to coordinate curriculum, she concluded
that he was
never receptive to her suggestions; was uncompromising; and would always do things his
way. On
one occasion, Complainant told Berns that she was mispronouncing the nasal sound. Berns
took
offense and responded that she had been told that she had perfect pronunciation. Thereafter,
Complainant photocopied the phonetic pronunciation of the vowel sound that he believed that
Berns
had mispronounced and left it on her desk. One of Complainant's motives in correcting
Berns was
to put her in her place because, in his view, she had always acted like she was the expert in
French.
After Complainant's first year of teaching, Berns wished that Complainant would leave the
District
and anonymously placed announcements of vacancies at other districts in Complainant's
mailbox.
When confronted by Complainant, Berns acknowledged that she had placed these notices in
Complainant's mailbox. Berns complained to Knaack that Complainant had told

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Berns that she had mispronounced a French word. Berns wrote notes to Knaack
requesting that
Complainant not interrupt her when she was in the classroom and that Complainant not be in
her
classroom while she was teaching. Initially, Knaack responded by telling Complainant to not
be in
Berns' classroom while Berns was teaching. When Knaack received the second note, he
provided
Complainant with a desk in another classroom so that Complainant would not be in the
vicinity when
Berns was teaching her French class. During the first and second year of Complainant's
employment
with the District, Berns voiced her concerns about Complainant's lack of cooperation and/or
failure
to follow curriculum timelines to his mentor teacher, Jean Haverly; to Corinne Solsrud, the
Curriculum Coordinator for Language Arts and Foreign Language from August of 1995 until
February of 2000; and to Knaack. During Complainant's first year of employment, Berns
told
Knaack and Solsrud that she and Complainant did not get along. During Complainant's
second year
of employment, Berns met with Sheehan and Solsrud to discuss her opinion that she and
Complainant
did not get along. Although Berns continued to have the same concerns about Complainant,
she did
not express her concerns about Complainant to administrators during the third year of
Complainant's
employment because, in her view, her previous discussions with the administrators had not
produced
any change in the status quo. On several occasions, Complainant
complained about Berns to Solsrud
and asked Solsrud to mediate between Berns and Complainant. Solsrud considered the
relationship
between Berns and Complainant to be contentious and responded to the complaints of the two
teachers by meeting with the two teachers individually and/or telling the two that they needed
to get
along. Solsrud also discussed Complainant's relationship with Berns with Knaack. Knaack
and
Solsrud sent a memo to Berns and Complainant outlining what was expected of each.
Knaack
considers Berns to be easy to get along with. Knaack concluded that Complainant was
responsible
for any problems in the relationship between Berns and Complainant. Solsrud concluded that
Complainant was more responsible than Berns for their contentious relationship. Solsrud has
not
heard that Berns had conflicts with any other teacher.

5. In various meetings during his first and second years at the District,
Complainant
requested his colleagues in the Foreign Language Department to consider the creation of a
French
classroom. Complainant did not receive any response to this request at these Department
meetings.
At the end of the 1995-96 school year, the teachers in the Foreign Language Department
lobbied
Knaack to keep their assigned rooms, arguing that they did not want to travel from room to
room to
accommodate the houses and that there should be little pieces of the country,
i.e., a classroom
dedicated to the language and the culture of the country that produced that language.
Complainant
did not have an assigned room, but supported the position that a foreign language classroom
should
be "little pieces of the country." Certain foreign language teachers continued to have
assigned rooms
for the 1996-97 school year. In October of 1996, Complainant raised the issue of a
dedicated
French rool with Sheehan, who listened to Complainant's concerns and suggested that
Complainant
raise his concerns in a memo. Complainant did so in a memo to Solsrud dated October 18,
1996:

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Dec. No. 29946-L

I'd like to put forth my case for having a single room devoted to
French for the 1997-1998
school year.

In the past, members of the Foreign
Language Dept. have consistently pressed administration
with their arguments that it is very important to have a given classroom devoted to their
languages,
in order to have "a little piece of __________" in the school.

I agree 100%. And what is true for
Spanish and German must therefore be true for French.

The only counter to this line of reasoning
would seem to be that given individual teacher's
deserve their "own" room by virtue of seniority at D.C. Everest. All things being equal, I
also agree
with that line of reasoning 100%.

But all things aren't equal.
We must all realize that it's the education of the students that is
the primary concern. When French students see that there are several rooms devoted to
Spanish and
one to German, they will naturally start to feel that French somehow doesn't rate as highly
as Spanish
& German. Do we want to leave French students with this viewpoint? I don't think so.

I would like all members of the Dept. to
consider this, so that we can discuss it at our next
Dept. meeting.

. . .

cc: All members of FL Dept

and Mike Sheehan

Solsrud, who thought that it would it be appropriate to wait to act upon this request
until the
following Spring, when the District would have a better understanding of program and
staffing needs
for the 1997-98 school year, sent a copy of this memo to Knaack, with the note "Any
reactions?" and
"Please place in per. file." Complainant became irritated when he did not receive an
immediate
response to this memo. Solsrud did not address this memo, or Complainant's concerns
regarding a
dedicated French room, at the next two meetings of the Foreign Language Department. As a
result,
Complainant went to Sheehan and asked Sheehan to assign a classroom to French for the
1997-98
school year. Sheehan indicated that Sheehan was not going to let the Spanish teachers, who
comprised the majority of the Foreign Language

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Department, make the argument that they needed a "little piece of Spain" if they were
not prepared
to apply this argument to French. From this, Complainant concluded that Sheehan would
treat
French fairly when it came to room assignments, i.e., assign a dedicated French
room. When the
student registration numbers for the 1997-98 school year became available, Complainant met
with
Sheehan and reminded Sheehan of their previous conversation. Several times after this,
Complainant
asked Sheehan if he had made any decisions on the classroom assignments. From these
discussions,
Complainant concluded that Sheehan had not made a decision and would advise Complainant
when
he had. On or about May 20, 1997, Complainant saw the schedule for the 1997-98 school
year and
noticed that there were six sections of French scheduled in five different rooms and that no
two
consecutive sections of French were scheduled in the same room. Complainant was
scheduled to
teach four sections in three different rooms and Berns was assigned to teach two sections in
two
different rooms. The Spanish teachers, i.e., Haverly, Soto, Martin, Brye and
Dudley, were each
scheduled to teach all of their sections in a single classroom. German teacher Jones was
scheduled
to teach five sections in three classrooms and German teacher Ackerman was scheduled to
teach two
sections in a single classroom. Complainant went to Sheehan and said that the French room
assignments were worse than last year and Sheehan responded that he would look into the
matter.
Complainant considered this to be an odd response because he understood that Sheehan was
responsible for room assignments. Subsequently, Shar Soto, a Spanish teacher, told
Complainant that
Solsrud had scheduled a Foreign Language Department meeting for May 28, 1997.
Solsrud
scheduled this meeting, in part, because Sheehan had expressed sympathy with Complainant's
argument that French should be treated like Spanish and Sheehan told Solsrud that he wanted
this
issue resolved at the lowest level possible. Sheehan, and not Solsrud, was responsible for
making
classroom assignments. At the beginning of the meeting, Solsrud indicated that they had to
discuss
room assignments and that someone was going to end up being shafted. Solsrud's statements
and
demeanor lead Complainant to conclude that the room assignment issue had been resolved
and that
the Department meeting was being called for the purpose of ratifying this resolution. At this
meeting,
Complainant made the argument that, in the past, the Foreign Language teachers had argued
that they
needed a little piece of their country to create the proper environment to foster the learning
of their
language and that he would like them to apply this argument to French. The ensuing
discussion
primarily involved Complainant, Soto and Holly Martin, another Spanish teacher. At this
time, there
were four Spanish rooms that were decorated with a "little bit of" Spain or Mexico. Soto
made a
proposal that would not provide a dedicated French room, but would provide that six sections
of
French be taught in two consecutive periods in each of three rooms. Complainant responded
that
such a proposal would be more convenient to Complainant, but that his convenience was not
the
issue. Rather, there needed to be one room assigned to French and Soto's proposal would
have him
teaching in Spanish rooms. Inasmuch as there were not enough rooms assigned to the
Foreign
Language Department to give every teacher his/her own room, to grant Complainant's
request for
a dedicated French room would be to displace more

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Dec. No. 29946-L

senior Foreign Language teachers from what these teachers and administrators
perceived to be the
teacher's classroom. Arguments were made that Spanish teachers were entitled to keep their
rooms
because they were the more senior teachers. Complainant did not accept this argument.
Arguments
were made that it would be unfair to displace Spanish students from a Spanish classroom and
Complainant responded that three Spanish classrooms should ensure that virtually all Spanish
students
would be taught in a Spanish classroom. The issue of moving from room to room was
discussed.
The discussion became loud and contentious, with assertions from each side that the other
side was
being hypocritical and uncompromising. At one point, Martin said "We never wanted
French here
in the first place." Solsrud did not consider this to be an appropriate remark. At the
conclusion of
the meeting, there had not been any change in the room assignments. Berns, the other
French
teacher, did not support Complainant's request for a dedicated French room and had never
sought
a dedicated French room. Although Solsrud indicated that she wanted the staff to work out a
solution that was agreeable to everyone, Complainant concluded that Solsrud was going to let
the
Spanish teachers have their way because they were the majority. Complainant considered
such an
outcome to be unfair because, in his view, his argument that the Foreign Language
Department
needed to take one room from the Spanish teachers to create a French room could not be
refuted.
When Complainant left the meeting, he believed that Soto and Martin were angry with him.
Solsrud's
view of the meeting was that Soto and Martin began by politely arguing their case; then
Complainant
became loud and argumentative; and that, although both sides made inappropriate personal
attacks,
Complainant was the most belligerent and aggressive. At the time of this meeting, staff of
other
Departments had been able to agree upon how rooms were to be assigned within the
Department.
At the end of the workday on May 29, 1997, Complainant placed the following memo in the
mailboxes of Solsrud and the other Foreign Language Department members:

Dear colleagues:

This is what I consider to be a just
arrangement, one that is best for the students:

Rooms 8, 9 and 10 are either
exclusively or predominantly Spanish, and these rooms adjoin
each other for ease of movement for the Spanish teachers. Additionally, the extra desk in
Room 10
plus one of the desks in the FL office could be used by Spanish.

20 of 22 Spanish classes
would be taught in these rooms, 1 class in Room 11 (across the hall),
and only one outside the Dept. Additionally, one German class would be taught in Room
10.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Room 11 is predominantly
German.

5 of 7 German classes
would be taught in this room, 1 class in Room 10 (across the hall), and
only one outside the Dept. Additionally, one Spanish class would be taught in here.

Room 7 is predominantly
French. Both Berns' and Mudrovich's desks could both be in there.

6 of 6 French classes would be taught in this
room. Additionally, two Spanish classes would
be taught in here.

Haverly has 4 of her classes in Room 9,
and one class in Room 11.

Brye has 4 classes in Room 8, and one class
outside the Dept.

Soto has 2 classes in a row in Room 10,
then 3 in a row in Room 8.

Martin has 2 classes in a row in Room 9,
then 3 in a row in Room 10.

Dudley has two classes in a row in Room 7.

Jones has 1 class in Room 10, then 4 in a
row in Room 11.

Ackermann has 1 class in Room 11, and
one outside the Dept.

No teacher has to work in
more than 2 classrooms, and movement of teachers is kept to
a minimum.Please consider this.

Attached to this memo, was a proposed room assignment
schedule. Under Complainant's proposal,
Complainant, Berns and Dudley were the only Foreign Language teachers to teach all of
their classes
in a single classroom; more teachers traveled from room to room; and more senior teachers
were
deprived of his/her own classroom. Complainant believed that the proposed schedule would
work
because it permitted each Spanish teacher to teach in a Spanish room. On May 30, 1997,
Soto and
Martin met with Knaack to complain about a note that Complainant had sent to teacher aide
Carol
Maki. At the time of this discussion, Knaack had not seen the note. When Complainant
arrived at
school on May 30, 1997, he received a note from Knaack requesting Complainant to see
Knaack
regarding Complainant's treatment of Maki. When Complainant met with Knaack, Knaack
told
Complainant that teachers had complained to Knaack about Complainant's treatment of Maki.
Complainant understood that Knaack was referring to a note that Complainant had written to
Maki
on May 19, 1997. This note stated something like "Oh, cram it" and was written in
response to
Maki's request that Complainant send a "study buddy" when sending students to her study
hall. By
making this

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Dec. No. 29946-L

request, Maki was asking that Complainant follow school policy. When Complainant
wrote this note,
he considered it to be a joke and thought that Maki would view his note as a joke.
Complainant told
Knaack that he was joking when he wrote the note. Knaack told Complainant that Knaack
had
discussed the note with Maki and that Maki did not wish to make a complaint against
Complainant.
Knaack did not reprimand, or otherwise discipline, Complainant for sending this note to
Maki. When
Knaack would not tell Complainant who had complained about the note, Complainant
indicated that
Complainant believed that Spanish teachers had brought the complaint because there was a
dispute
over room assignments. Knaack told Complainant that he did not see any connection
between the
two issues, but that he did know that Soto and Martin had talked to Sheehan about room
assignments
and suggested that Complainant talk to Sheehan. At this time, Knaack was under the
mistaken
impression that Complainant had just written the note to Maki. Subsequently, Complainant
told Maki
that he had met with Knaack; that Knaack had told Complainant that the note had offended
Maki; and
that Complainant had not intended to offend Maki. In Complainant's opinion, Maki was a
friend, but
in this instance, Maki acted cold towards him. Shortly after this conversation with Maki,
Complainant had a conversation with Soto and Martin that lead Complainant to conclude that
both
had complained to Knaack about the Maki note. During this conversation, Complainant
understood
Soto and Martin to have denied that their complaint was related to the classroom assignment
issue
and to have asserted that they made the complaint because of concern for Maki.
Complainant
responded that, if they were so concerned, then why had they not brought the matter up two
weeks
earlier. Subsequently, Complainant asked Knaack to arrange a meeting with Complainant
and Soto
and Martin. Knaack told Complainant that he had not been harmed by Soto and Martin's
complaint
and reiterated his view that there was no connection between the room assignment issue and
the
complaint on the Maki note. Complainant responded that the timing of the complaint
indicated that
there was a connection. Knaack responded that Complainant was not harmed because there
was
nothing in his file. Complainant responded that, unless the matter was resolved, Soto and
Martin's
perception of the matter would spread. Knaack agreed to give further consideration to
Complainant's
request for the meeting. On the following Monday, Knaack confirmed to Complainant that
Knaack
was not going to arrange such a meeting. Knaack declined to arrange such a meeting
because he
understood that the resolution being sought by Complainant was to have Soto and Martin
apologize
to Complainant. Subsequently, Complainant discussed the Maki note with an Association
Representative; asked if the Association could mediate between members; and was advised
that the
Association wanted Complainant to drop the matter. Complainant then decided to consult his
attorney, Ryan Lister. Thereafter, Lister sent a letter to Soto and Martin seeking a retraction
and
apology. On August 5, 1997, Complainant commenced a civil lawsuit against Soto and
Martin
alleging, inter alia, injury to reputation and profession and defamation for
making statements that
Complainant had verbally abused Carol Maki. Dodd and Knaack learned of this lawsuit
prior to, or
at the beginning of, the 1997-98 school year. Knaack first became aware of this suit when
Soto and
Martin telephoned Knaack to advise him that they were being taken to court. At that time,
Knaack
concluded that this suit would affect the

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Dec. No. 29946-L

atmosphere in the Junior High. Dodd concluded that, by filing this lawsuit,
Complainant had not
responded to Soto and Martin's complaint in a reasonable manner. Three or four days after
her
August 6, 1997 service of the summons on the lawsuit, Soto telephoned Dodd to ask if the
District
would represent Soto and Martin in the lawsuit that had been filed by Complainant. Dodd
expressed
his opinion that the District was not obligated to provide such representation. Subsequently,
Dodd
received a telephone call from a representative of Soto's insurance carrier and concluded
from this
telephone conversation that this insurance carrier believed that the District had a statutory
obligation
to represent Soto. Thereafter, Dodd asked the District's Supervisor of Personnel, Jim
Jaworski, to
review the issue. By letter dated October 9, 1997, URC Risk Managers, Inc. (URCRM), the
claims
administrator for one of the District's insurers, confirmed that the District had previously
tendered
the Soto and Martin lawsuit to its insurer and advised Jaworski that, based upon the facts
known at
that point in time, the District's insurer could not commit to cover the representation of Soto
and
Martin in the suit filed by Complainant; that, the matter had been referred for additional
investigation
with respect to coverage; that the claim was reported to URCRM on September 29, 1997;
and that
Jaworski was requested to forward the information in the letter to Soto and Martin because
URC did
not have contact information for them. By letter dated October 30, 1997, Attorney James
A. Higgins
of Byrne, Goyke & Tillisch, S.C., notified the District that it had been retained by Soto
to represent
her in the suit filed by Complainant. In this letter, Higgins indicated that the conduct which
was the
subject of the suit, if it had occurred, would have been committed by his client while
carrying out
duties within the scope of her employment and also stated as follows:

I was recently retained, but understand that this matter was turned
over to the school district's
insurance carrier. The carrier denied coverage. Despite the insurance carriers position on
coverage,
we take the position that the school district is obligated to defend and indemnify Sharlene
Soto
pursuant to Wis. Stat. Sec. 895.46. She now faced both defense costs and potential judgment
exposure because of actions by her or allegedly committed by her, which were clearly within
the
scope of her employment. We therefore take the position that the school district is obligated
to
defend and indemnify her. I would appreciate being contacted concerning the foregoing at
your
earliest convenience.

This letter indicates that MSI Insurance, the District's insurance carrier, was copied on
this letter.
After receiving this letter, Dodd contacted the District's attorney to have the attorney review
the
issue of whether or not the District had an obligation to defend Soto and Martin. By letter
dated
November 18, 1997, URCRM advised Jaworski that it did not consider the District's
insurance policy
to provide coverage in defense of Soto and Martin and that, therefore, it was denying the
District's
tender of that claim. On or about November 18, 1997, the District's attorney advised the
District's
School Board, hereafter School Board, that the

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Dec. No. 29946-L

statutes required the District to provide representation. On November 25, 1997, the
School Board
authorized the law firm of Ruder & Ware to defend Soto and Martin in the lawsuit that
had been filed
by Complainant. On March 5, 1999, Attorney Cari L. Westerhof of the law firm of Ruder
& Ware
signed a sworn affidavit that she was an attorney for Defendants Shar Soto and Holly Martin
and that
the disbursements mentioned within have been or will be necessarily made and the copies
charged for
in the within bill of costs were necessarily obtained for use in the action of "George A.
Mudrovich,
Plaintiff vs. Shar Soto and Holly Martin" and these disbursements included the following:

10/29/97 RJR Telephone conference with R. Dodd re issues
related to pending lawsuits against
teachers in district and discussion of issues related to possible discipline of teacher.

The above referenced RJR is District attorney Ronald J. Rutlin. In statements before
the Court,
Westerhof said that "When the billing statement says that conferences about pending issues
involving
teacher, that is specifically Mr. Mudrovich." After filing his suit against Soto and Martin,
Complainant
observed that employees of the District who had previously been friendly did not want to
associate
with Complainant and had the attitude that Complainant was wrong because he had filed the
suit
against Soto and Martin.

6. On May 30, 1997, Complainant gave Sheehan a copy of his May 29, 1997
proposal and
Sheehan acknowledged that he had discussed the room assignment issue with Soto and
Martin. In
a subsequent conversation, Complainant asked Sheehan if a decision had been made on the
room
assignments and Sheehan indicated that the room assignments were unchanged because
Complainant
thought that the Spanish teachers were throwing him a bone. Complainant indicated that he
thought
this decision was unfair and asked if he could discuss this matter further at a later time.
When
Complainant returned to discuss the room assignment issue, he told Sheehan that Soto and
Martin's
conduct in complaining about the Maki note foreclosed any possibility of the Foreign
Language
Department teachers resolving the issue and that Sheehan should make a decision that was
fair.
Complainant also indicated that if the classroom assignments remained as they were, then
Sheehan
was rewarding Soto and Martin. Sheehan responded that each teacher had a lot of seniority;
the final
decision would not be made for a few weeks; and Complainant should return in early June.
At or
near the end of the 1996-97 school year, Complainant told Solsrud that it would be unfair to
not give
him a dedicated French room because it would reward teachers who had done something
nasty.
Solsrud indicated that she was tired of being in the middle of this issue and would not assure
Complainant that she would discuss this matter with Sheehan. At some point, Solsrud
discussed the
meeting of May 28, 1997 and Complainant's proposal of May 29, 1997 with Knaack.
Solsrud told
Knaack that Complainant had become very argumentative. During this meeting, Knaack
responded
that she should work with Sheehan on the class assignment issue. During this discussion, she
told
Knaack that she was upset about the personal attacks that had

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Dec. No. 29946-L

occurred at the meeting; that it had become very personal between Complainant and
the Spanish
teachers; that the Spanish teachers were trying to guard what they had; and that Complainant
was the
most belligerent and aggressive. Solsrud was off-contract during the summer of 1997. On
or about
June 6, 1997, Complainant prepared and provided Solsrud with a letter that includes:

Dear Corinne:

I want to make my position quite clear
about this whole room assignment matter.

If you will recall, twice during the 1996-97
school year, I brought up the issue of having a room
devoted primarily to French, as there are currently four rooms devoted
primarily or exclusively to
Spanish, and one for German. In both instances, nobody else wanted to pursue the matter. I
had also
brought up this issue twice during the 1995-96 school year, before you were here, with the
same
negative results.

At the end of the 1995-96 school year,
Mike Sheehan came down to talk with the department
in Room 8. Department members were concerned that with the new teaming situation,
Foreign
Language classes might be left without their own classrooms. Several of the Spanish
teachers ­ and
me ­ stressed to Mike that it was important to have rooms that were devoted to the
culture being
studied so that, in Shar's words, there (sic) be "a little piece of Spain" for the students to
experience.

When all of my attempts within the
department to apply that same philosophy to French culture
were rebuffed, I went to Mike during the winter to remind him of those arguments about "a
little
piece of Spain" that the Spanish teachers had put forth. He was sympathetic, and implied
that he
would try to assign French its own room.

When the room assignments were posted, it
was obvious that Mike had forgotten this
conversation, so I went to see him again. That would have been the day before you
announced our
May 28th department meeting.

If you will recall, during that meeting I
reminded the Spanish teachers of their earlier arguments
concerning "a little piece of Spain", and pressed them to explain why that should not apply
to French.
As you well recall, the discussion got rather heated. But my question about having "a little
piece of
France", when there are currently four "little pieces of Spain", was never answered.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Rather, the Spanish teachers pointed out that
I was a new teacher, French is a new program, the
school never even wanted French in the first place, and so on and so on. I was told that I
should
respect the seniority system. What wasn't brought up was that in the Science Department,
nobody
had their own rooms this year ­ including people like Tom Jacob, who has been here
30 years.
However, Tom Grossklaus, a Civics teacher who has been here only 3 or 4 years,
did have his own
room. And Dave Cotrone, who has been here much longer than Tom Grossklaus, teaches
out of
three different rooms. All of these so-called anomalies to the seniority
system exist because that's
the way things were worked out within those three departments.

What all this boiled down to is that the
Spanish teachers just wanted to protect turf, and that the
logic that I had presented to them ­ the very logic that they had
presented to Mike Sheehan a year
earlier ­ had no effect on their desire to protect turf. They accused me of not wanting
to compromise;
wanting it to be all or nothing. After my repeated earlier attempts to address this issue in
department
meeting, only to be ignored, one should ask oneself just who was unwilling to compromise.

And here is their idea of a just solution: that
their (sic) continue to be four rooms devoted
primarily or exclusively to Spanish (so that the four full-time Spanish teachers can each keep
their
own room), and that the two sections of French 1a be taught in Room X, that the two
sections of
French 1b be taught in Room Y, and that the two sections of French II be taught in
Room Z. This
would indeed be more convenient to me than the current arrangement, but the convenience
for me
was never the issue! This so-called compromise completely ignores
the issue of having a room
devoted primarily to French.

Since we couldn't seem to agree during that
May 28th meeting, you instructed us to try to work
it out among ourselves and get back to you. I proceeded to do exactly that. The following
day I
looked at all the room assignments and created what I thought was a very fair setup. I put a
copy
in everybody's mailbox, excluding Mike Sheehan and
Bob Knaack. The final comment on this sheet
was, "Please consider this." It was not presented as a line in the sand that I wouldn't back
away
from.

The following morning, I was called into
Bob Knaack's office, where I was informed that
"several teachers" had complained to him that I had been abusive to Carol Maki. The
impression was
left with Bob that this alleged abuse had occurred the day before. Bob didn't tell me who
had
complained of this "abuse". He did tell me that Carol herself didn't want to make a
complaint

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Dec. No. 29946-L

against me. [I will restate what I told Bob,
which is that I was joking with Carol, and that we
both laughed about it the next day in the Lounge.] I asked Bob if the
complainers might possibly be
Spanish teachers. He said no (wishing to protect Shar's and Holly's identities), but asked me
why
I would assume that. I then told him about all the resent (sic) strife we've had. He
suggested that
I give my room-utilization proposal to Mike, since he knew that Shar and Holly had already
done so.
That is when I gave a copy to Mike.

Now, you have said that "everyone went
against your instructions to work this out among
ourselves" right after the May 28th meeting. In my book, this is equivalent
to saying about 1930's
Europe that, "There was a lot of conflict, then everyone went to war." We all know that the
war
started because Hitler unilaterally attacked many countries. This was clearly a
black-and-white matter
of unprovoked attack.

This issue is analogous. I
was perfectly willing to sit down with my colleagues; I believe that the
wording of my proposal made that clear. But then Shar andHolly, nobody else (that I know of), in
the nastiest thing that I have ever had done to me, precluded any
possibility of a professional
conference to work things out. They literally stabbed me in the back by trying to convince
Bob that
I had been abusive to Carol Maki. Both of then (sic) were perfectly aware that this
malicious
accusation was false. And the timing of it tells the whole story. My alleged abuse of Carol
had taken
place two weeks earlier; no one complained then. But then two days after the May
28th meeting ­
the morning after they got my proposal ­ Shar and Holly tried to settle our
departmental matter by
branding me as a woman abuser.

And now it seems that there is a strong
possibility that this incredibly malicious and underhanded
action will not only be tolerated, but will actually be
rewarded by the Administration, by giving Shar
and Holly precisely what they wanted! The pretext would supposedly be that "we couldn't
all work
this out among ourselves."

Now Corinne, I believe you well know that
it was Shar and Holly, not me, who had scurried
behind your back and undermined your authority as the Curriculum Coordinator for the
Foreign
Language Department. What kind of message will you be sending all the people in our
department
if you don't come down on the two people who are known by everybody to
have been the ones who
disobeyed you?

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Dec. No. 29946-L

But the issue of your authority as the
Curriculum Coordinator is really a separate one. The main
issue here is simply what is right and what is wrong. Here are the two parts of that: 1) It is
only just
that there be a French room if there are several Spanish rooms and a German room. 2) Shar
and Holly
resorted to the most mean-spirited malicious and dishonest means possible to resolve a
departmental
dispute. Should this be rewarded? No. Should this be tolerated? No. Should this be
punished?
Unquestionably.

. . .

P.S. I will not show this memo to, or discuss it with
anybody other than you. And I will not
present any memos to Bob, Mike or anyone else.

On June 18, 1997, Complainant asked Sheehan about room assignments and Sheehan
told
Complainant that the room assignments would remain unchanged. Complainant responded
that he
would go over Sheehan's head and Sheehan responded that Complainant could do whatever
he
wanted, but that it would not change the room assignments. Complainant then went to
Knaack and
asked Knaack to overturn Sheehan's decision. Knaack indicated that he would not do so
because
he normally left such decisions to Sheehan. Complainant responded that he would go over
Knaack's
head and Knaack responded that Complainant was free to do whatever he wanted, but that it
would
not change the room assignments. Complainant then made an appointment to discuss the
issue with
Dodd. Shortly after Complainant arrived at this meeting, Dodd invited Dan Hazaert, the
District's
Assistant Superintendent for Instruction of Pupil Services, to sit in on the meeting. During
this
meeting, Complainant was polite and respectful and, in Dodd's opinion, presented reasonable
arguments as to why the French program was not being treated in the same way as Spanish
or
German. At the conclusion of the meeting, Complainant understood that the matter would be
discussed with Knaack. During this meeting, Hazaert assured Complainant that Knaack was
not
allowed to discriminate against the French program with respect to access to facilities. Dodd
told
Hazaert to tell Knaack to give Complainant a French room and Hazaert responded that he
would
review Complainant's rationale with Knaack and work towards a solution. Subsequently,
Hazaert
discussed the classroom assignment issue with Knaack and told Knaack to reexamine the
issue. On
July 17, 1997, Knaack met with Complainant to discuss the issue. At this meeting, Knaack
initially
resisted the creation of a dedicated French room and argued that the Spanish teachers were
more
senior; that the success of the French program was more likely to be affected by the quality
of the
French teacher than the nature of the classroom; that Complainant should compromise by
teaching
two consecutive sections in each of three classrooms; that classroom assignment matters are
normally
decided at the Department level; and that he would work with Complainant to get a dedicated
French
room for the following year. Complainant responded that the compromise would not give
Complainant a dedicated French room and that Complainant had tried for years to get a
dedicated
French room and that it was not fair to wait

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Dec. No. 29946-L

any longer. Eventually, Knaack agreed to give Complainant a dedicated French room
and offered
Room 11, the smallest of the Foreign Language classrooms. Complainant indicated that he
had one
class of 32 students; Room 11 would be too cramped; if Complainant had the larger classes,
then he
should be given the largest classroom; and asked the size of the classes of the other teachers.
Knaack
indicated that he did not have that information available and, when Complainant reminded
Knaack
that Sheehan had a copy of the master schedule, Knaack retrieved the master schedule.
Complainant
reviewed the master schedule; concluded that one or two Spanish teachers had maximums of
25 or
26 students; suggested that they be given Room 11 and that he be given Room 7; and stated
that
Room 7 would be big enough to hold a desk for Berns, as well as Complainant. Knaack told
Complainant that he would not give Complainant Room 7 because it would not be fair to
Spanish to
give Complainant the biggest room and that he would not take Room 7 away from Haverly,
the
teacher who was currently assigned to that room. Complainant responded that he was not
aware that
rooms belonged to any one teacher. At this point in time, Knaack raised his voice and
emphatically
stated that he was not going "to stick" it to Haverly. Knaack eventually offered Complainant
Room
10. Complainant resisted this idea because he was resentful of the way he had been treated
by the
Foreign Language teachers and administrators and continued to ask for Room 7 on the basis
that it
was the largest room and he had the largest class. When Knaack indicated that the two
rooms were
the same size, Complainant stated that he wanted to measure the two rooms. At this point,
Knaack
threw up his hands and said "Oh, for Pete's sake." Knaack accompanied Complainant to the
two
classrooms and Complainant paced off the dimensions. Concluding that there was not a
significant
difference between Room 7 and Room 10, Complainant indicated that Room 10 was
acceptable.
During the walk to and from these classrooms, each individual continued with their
arguments. At
one point, Knaack responded that he could solve the large classroom problem by calling
parents and
telling them that their children could not be in French. Complainant responded that, if
Knaack did
that, then he was going to take Knaack to court. Knaack reiterated that he did not
understand why
the Department had not been able to work out the classroom assignments and Complainant
responded
that he had been stabbed in the back and he was not going to take the short end of the stick
after
being stabbed in the back. When Knaack again stated that he did not understand why the
Department
had not been able to work out the classroom assignments, Complainant raised his voice and
emphatically stated that he was sick and tired of hearing Knaack say that, as if it were
Complainant's
fault; that it was not Complainant's fault that the Department had not been able to work it
out; and
that he did not want to hear that anymore. Knaack responded that they did not need to go to
war
over the matter. Knaack developed a schedule and Complainant told Knaack that the
schedule did
not make sense in that it put a Social Studies teacher in a Foreign Language Department
room at a
time that it could be used by a Foreign Language teacher. Knaack responded that he did
this because
it would cause Complainant to move once, which Knaack considered to be fair to the Spanish
teachers who had to move. The meeting concluded with Knaack replacing the French section
in the
French classroom and indicating that, if he could work out the study halls, that this schedule
should
work. Complainant, who believed that he had yelled at Knaack,

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Dec. No. 29946-L

apologized to Knaack for yelling. Complainant, who believed that Knaack had also
yelled at him, was
surprised that Knaack did not apologize for yelling. Under the schedule developed by
Knaack,
Haverly, Brye and Soto would teach in more than one room. On July 25, 1997, Knaack
telephoned
Complainant. During this telephone conversation, Knaack told Complainant that he had
changed his
mind and that the French room would be moved to Room 11; Complainant reiterated
his concern that
the room was too small for his largest class; and Knaack responded that the other Spanish
teachers
were upset about the room assignment that had previously been agreed upon and that
Knaack's
decision was final. Complainant initially agreed to the change, but then subsequently told
Knaack that
Room 11 was not acceptable; that the schedule worked out with Knaack had been fair; and
that he
did not like the fact that Knaack had made the change without first discussing it with
Complainant.
At this time, Knaack had the opinion that Complainant had been unreasonable and
uncompromising
in his efforts to obtain a dedicated French room. Knaack, who did not attend the Foreign
Language
Department meetings, based this opinion upon his discussions with Sheehan and
Complainant, as well
as upon Complainant's May 29, 1997 proposal. Subsequently, Complainant delivered two
letters
to Dodd's office, one of which was dated July 17, 1997 and the second of which was dated
July 25,
1997. The July 17, 1997 letter began by advising Dodd that he and Knaack had reached an
agreement to have Room 10 assigned as a French room and then stated:

However, I am very disturbed over the fact that in our meeting,
Bob continued to demonstrate
antipathy, even outright hostility to either me personally, or the French program, I can't tell
which.
Now, if I had successfully resolved a conflict with a colleague who was my equal, I would
just put
any harsh words behind me and forget about it. Unfortunately, this is not the case here.
Bob Knaack
is not my equal ­ he's my boss. As such, he could potentially do things that would
have an adverse
effect on my career. Based on the way things went this morning, I believe that Bob, given
the
opportunity, will do just that.

Complainant went on to summarize what he recalled of his meeting with Knaack. This
summary
indicates, inter alia, the following: Complainant initiated the conversation
by asking what was going
to happen with the French room assignments; Knaack responded that he did not understand
why the
Foreign Language Department could not work out the room assignments because with other
Departments he is able to give them a list of available rooms and they work it out among
themselves;
Complainant responded that he tried to handle the issue in a professional manner but that two
colleagues had stabbed him in the back with their allegation that he had abused Maki and that
ended
any possibility of working this out among themselves; Knaack indicated that he did not
connect the
two issues and the problem with Complainant's request was that there were not enough
rooms;
Complainant stated that he did not see the justice in having one German room and four
Spanish
rooms, but no French room;Knaack responded that
having a French room is not what determines the
success of a program

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Dec. No. 29946-L

and that the success of a program was determined by the teacher; that if the students
like the
program, then they will tell their friends about it and Complainant would get more students;
Complainant responded that students are more likely to have a positive experience if they are
in a
room that is devoted to the culture of the language that they are studying; Knaack responded
that
seniority was a factor in room assignments and that Complainant was least senior among the
foreign
language teachers; Complainant responded that seniority does not make a difference here and
that
the foreign language teachers were in competition for students and he did not see why the
other
foreign language teachers should have all the marbles; Knaack disagreed with this statement
and
Complainant explained why he believed they were in competition; Knaack reiterated his view
that the
Department should have worked it out and Complainant indicated that he was tired of
repeating that
he tried to handle the matter professionally; Complainant reiterated that he had tried to bring
the issue
up in Department meetings, but no one wanted to discuss it and that Soto and Martin ended
all
possibility of working it out when they chose to stab him in the back; Complainant stated that
he did
not want to discuss it anymore because he was not the one who made it impossible to work it
out;
Knaack stated that Complainant should compromise and that Knaack could schedule two of
Complainant's classes back to back in one room and the remaining two back to back in a
second
room; Complainant responded that he wanted a single room devoted to French culture;
Knaack
reiterated that Complainant should compromise and that the two of them could work toward
having
a French room next year; Complainant indicated that French had been the poor cousin for
four years,
he saw no reason to wait, that he had provided a schedule that would work, and why would
they not
do something like that; Knaack responded that everybody else thought Complainant's
schedule was
unfair because everyone but Complainant would move between rooms; Complainant
responded that
this was a result of the way the classes were scheduled; Knaack then stated that he would try
to
accommodate Complainant by scheduling most of the French classes in Room 11;
Complainant noted
that this was the smallest room downstairs and that his largest class, 7th
period, would not fit
comfortably in that room; the two then discussed why this class was so large; Knaack
indicated that
they could put Complainant in another room for the 7th period;
Complainant responded by asking why
the French room could not be in a room that was large enough to handle his largest class;
Knaack
responded that he did not want to make the Spanish teachers mad; when Complainant asked
if any
of the Spanish teachers had as large a class as he, Knaack responded that he did not know;
Knaack
suggested that the two try to work out a schedule; Complainant wanted to use the schedule
that he
has prepared as a basis for the discussion, but Knaack told Complainant that he had lost it;
Complainant then went home to retrieve his schedule because he could not make sense of the
schedule that Knaack wanted to use; when Complainant returned, he believed that he saw the
schedule that he had prepared on Knaack's desk; Complainant concluded that Knaack knew
that he
had not lost the schedule and that Knaack did not want to produce Complainant's schedule
because
Knaack wanted to start from scratch and produce a schedule that was more favorable to the
Spanish
teachers; Knaack began the conversation by indicating that he had looked at the numbers in
Complainant's other classes and that they were tiny, 17 or

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Dec. No. 29946-L

18 students; when Complainant asked if Knaack had looked at the Spanish class
numbers, Knaack
responded that he had not and that it would make no difference because he had placed
Complainant
in Room 10; acknowledging that Room 10 was better than Room 11, Complainant said that if
he had
the biggest class, then he should be in the biggest room, Room 7; Knaack then threw up his
hands
and yelled that Complainant was not getting Room 7 because it belonged to Jean Haverly;
when
Complainant responded that he was not aware that rooms belonged to anyone, Knaack yelled
what
was the matter with Complainant, that Knaack had just given Complainant the best room
downstairs
and Complainant was still not happy; Complainant responded by saying that he would like to
see the
Spanish teacher numbers; Knaack said something to the effect of "for crying out loud" and
then went
to get the numbers; Complainant observed that Haverly's largest two classes were 24 and 25
students; when Complainant observed that there was a big difference between 25 students and
the
31 students in Complainant's largest class, Knaack yelled that Complainant was not getting
Room
7 and that Knaack was not going to "stick it to" Jean; Complainant responded that he would
like to
pace off the two rooms; Knaack responded that it did not make any difference because
Complainant
was not getting Room 7; as Knaack and Complainant left Knaack's office, Knaack was
"huffing"
about Complainant's insisting upon pacing off the rooms and was visibly irritated and hostile;
Complainant, being equally hostile at this point, told Knaack that Hazaert told Complainant
that
Knaack could not discriminate against French in access to facilities and did Knaack want
Complainant
to see Hazaert again; Knaack responded by indicating that he could fix Complainant's
problem with
having too many students in a room by calling parents and telling them to take their children
out of
French; Complainant said go ahead and I will take you to court; Knaack asked why
Complainant
always wanted to sue people and Complainant responded that he was not going to stand for
being
screwed with; when Complainant and Knaack walked into Room 7, Knaack told Complainant
that
he did not know what was the matter with Complainant, that Knaack had given Complainant
one of
the best rooms and Complainant was still complaining; Complainant paced off the rooms as
Knaack
continued to complain about Complainant's ingratitude; Complainant indicated that there was
only
about three feet difference in the rooms so Room 10 would be fine; Knaack responded that
was what
he had been telling Complainant; as the two walked back to Knaack's office, Knaack
reiterated that
the Department should have been able to work it out and Complainant yelled that he did not
want to
hear that anymore, that Soto and Martin had stabbed him in the back and that it was not his
fault that
the Department could not work it out; Knaack responded that everything has to be your way,
it is
George's way or no way; Complainant yelled that Knaack should not talk to him about
cooperation,
that Complainant had tried to work it out through the proper channels and the only way that
he got
anything done was to see Dodd; Knaack then said there is no need to go to war over this;
Complainant responded that you keep talking about it like it is my fault and that he was sick
of it;
Knaack repeated that there was no need to go to war over it; when they returned to Knaack's
office,
Knaack showed Complainant a schedule that had been prepared by Knaack which placed
Complainant
in Room 10 for all the French classes except for 7th period, where
Complainant would be in Room
120; Complainant

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Dec. No. 29946-L

responded that it did not make sense to move him out of Room 10 for
7th period because Brye could
be moved into Room 120 instead of Room 10 for 7th period; Knaack
responded by saying that it only
seemed fair to have Complainant move once if everybody else had to move once;
Complainant
responded that if the French room was available for 7th period, then it
made sense to use it for 7th
period; Knaack agreed that he could do this; and that, after finalizing the agreed upon
schedule,
Complainant apologized for losing his temper, but did not receive an apology from Knaack
for losing
his temper. Near the end of his letter, Complainant wrote the following:

Even though the atmosphere in his office was now calm, I
was
very uncomfortable. I had just
had a very hostile meeting with my boss, and I was feeling as if I had crossed the Rubicon
with Bob.
My apology was sincere [I don't think it's right to lose one's temper in a professional
meeting,
regardless of what Bob had done], but I also tried to patch up our working relationship by
apologizing.

After several minutes more of watching
Bob work, I asked him if I could let him finish up on
his own. He said OK. I offered him my hand, and he shook it. I told him that I hoped we
could put
all this behind us. He seconded that notion.

But on the way home after the meeting I
was still uncomfortable. This had been a very
uncomfortable meeting, and I started to brood about the whole matter. I thought about it all
afternoon. The fear kept on growing that Bob would try to get back at me eventually. After
all, he
couldn't be too pleased with the idea that I had gone over his head to you, Dr. Dodd, even
though
I told him on June 18th [the day I met with Mike Sheehan, when Mike told
me rather cheerfully that
he was going to keep the original schedule: 4 dedicated Spanish rooms and 5 different rooms
for
French. I told Mike that I'd talk to Bob about it if that was his final decision. He told me I
could do
whatever I want, but that it wouldn't change anything] that if he wouldn't consider reversing
Mike's
decision that I would come to see you.

This fear in me just continued to grow.
So I sat down this evening to record everything I
remembered about our conversation [i.e. Bob's and my conversations]. I would like a
permanent
record of this letter to you to be kept on file at the District office. I just can't get over the
fear that
Bob is going to want to get back at me. His hostility today has convinced me that he will
eventually
do so if he feels that he can get away with it.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

That's why I want this letter to be a
permanent part of the record. In fact, I would also like
the witnesses I mentioned earlier to go on record as to what they heard and what they
perceived as
they watched Bob and me argue in an openly hostile manner.

I'd also like a copy to be given to Bob so
that he can formally respond to my account of
today's events. He may wish to dispute some of the things I've put down in this letter, so
I'd like him
to do this as soon as possible, while events are still clear in my memory, as well as in those
of any
witnesses.

Finally, I'd like to request that neither
Bob
Knaack nor Mike Sheehan be my direct supervisor
this coming year, or in any future years. They have both treated me most unfairly, and I
doubt that
either of them will ever really get over the fact that I went over their heads to get that
unfairness
reversed.

One additional comment: Bob told me at
one point today that he and Mike did go on record
originally as being opposed to instituting a French program at the Junior High, but that that
opposition was all in the past; he's all for the French program now, he says. But based on
all the
turmoil I had to go through with Bob and Mike to get a French room during the French
program's
fifth year, I doubt that he's really sincere about that support.

Attached to this letter were various classroom assignment schedules that Complainant
considered to
be relevant to his concerns, including his May 29, 1997 proposal. Dodd considers it likely
that
Knaack had thrown his hands in the air and raised his voice to Complainant, but considers
such
conduct to be evidence that Knaack was exasperated and frustrated with Complainant, rather
than
angry with Complainant. Dodd considers it likely that Knaack had resisted the idea of
having a
French room, but considers this resistance reasonable in view of the fact that Knaack had
offered a
compromise of having two French classes taught consecutively in a row. The letter of July
25, 1997,
states as follows:

Please read this long letter that I've given you a copy of.

Then I'd like you to know that Bob Knaack
is still messing with me. He called me this morning
to inform me that he's changing the room assignment that we had agreed on (Room 10) to
Room 11,
because "all the Spanish teachers were upset." Please note that the two largest classes
(31-me, 30-Dudley) are now in the smallest room. The biggest room by far (room 7) is
scheduled to have a
maximum of 26 students. Rooms 10 + 9 have maximums of 26 x 25 respectively (over)

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Dec. No. 29946-L

It is clear to me that Bob is still trying to discriminate against me
or the French program.

Attached to this letter was a schedule that had been developed by Knaack on July 17,
1997 and
agreed upon by Complainant; a schematic with the dimensions of Rooms 7, 8, 9, and 10,
identified
in "paces;" and the room dimensions of these same rooms, marked in "feet." Under this
schedule,
Complainant and Berns taught all of their classes in Room 10. This schedule indicates that
Complainant's 7th period class has 31 students; that Complainant's three
other classes had 17, 18, and
19 students; and that the vast majority of the classes of the non-French teachers were over 23
students, generally ranging between 23 to 26 students. After receiving Complainant's letters,
Dodd
discussed the matter with Knaack. Knaack responded that Complainant was expressing
Complainant's opinion; that Complainant had received his French room and that there was no
further
conflict. Knaack was not bothered by the fact that Complainant had gone over his head on
the French
room issue. Dodd concluded that Knaack was not hostile toward Complainant and Dodd did
not
see the need to intercede between Knaack and Complainant at that time. At the time that
Dodd made
this decision, he had not formed any opinion as to whether or not Complainant was the
individual that
had prevented the classroom assignment issue from being resolved at the Departmental level,
but
Complainant's proposed schedule lead Dodd to conclude that Complainant was unreasonable
because
Complainant had proposed that he remain in one classroom and that the more senior teachers
move
from room to room. Dodd considered Knaack's proposed compromise, i.e.,
that Complainant teach
two consecutive sections in a single classroom, to be reasonable. Complainant expected
Dodd to
contact him about the two letters because, in Complainant's view, he had made clear that
there was
a serious problem between Knaack and Complainant. When Dodd did not contact
Complainant,
Complainant telephoned Dodd on July 29, 1997. Dodd was not sympathetic to
Complainant's
complaints and told Complainant that Dodd supported Knaack's decision to assign Room 11
to
Complainant. During this conversation, Dodd told Complainant that Complainant had
alienated his
colleagues in the Foreign Language Department and Complainant responded that they had
alienated
him. When Complainant brought up Soto and Martin, Dodd told Complainant that Dodd
knew that
Complainant also had problems with Berns. Within a few hours of this telephone
conversation,
Complainant made notes of this telephone conversation. These notes indicate, inter
alia, that
Complainant told Dodd that rooms should be assigned on the basis of need and not to soothe
teacher
egos; that Complainant's 7th hour class was by the far the largest Foreign
language class and that it
would not fit comfortably into Room 11; that Dodd suggested that Complainant find a larger
room
for his 7th hour class, indicated that one of the perks of seniority was that
teacher's get the room of
their choice and Knaack was trying to preserve some semblance of this tradition; that after
Dodd had
reiterated his position, Dodd told Complainant that he did not want to discuss the matter any
further;
that Dodd stated that French was receiving the same consideration as Spanish; that Dodd told
Complainant that one of the reasons that Complainant

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Dec. No. 29946-L

was not given Room 10 was that Berns did not want Complainant doing his preps at
the desk in the
adjoining small office while she taught her classes; that Dodd told Complainant that Berns
had
complained to Knaack that Complainant acted as if he were her supervisor and that
Complainant
needed to understand that he was not her supervisor; that Complainant knew that he had not
discussed Berns with Dodd and assumed that Knaack had discussed Berns with Dodd; that
Complainant resented the fact that Complainant had not been provided with an opportunity to
respond to complaints made by Berns; that when Complainant attempted to explain his side
of the
issue with Berns, Dodd cut him off by saying that it was not important who was right or
wrong; that
Dodd said the point was that Complainant had alienated many of his foreign language
colleagues; that
Complainant became a little huffy and responded that Dodd should stop right there and that
Complainant had been stabbed in the back by two of the Spanish teachers; that they alienated
him,
he did not alienate them; that Dodd responded that Complainant had alienated himself; that
Complainant became huffier; stated that the two Spanish teachers had attacked him in the
nastiest way
possible and that the fact that they were not getting along was their doing; that Dodd
acknowledged
that he may have misspoke; that when Complainant indicated that everyone would like him
fine if
he was not assertive in his quest for a French room, Dodd responded that Complainant now
had his
own room and he advised Complainant to find another room for Complainant's
7th hour French class;
that Dodd stated Complainant was being treated more than fairly; that Complainant asked
Dodd if
Complainant should expect to have to fight tooth and nail to be shown the same consideration
as
Spanish; that Dodd reiterated that Complainant was being treated very fairly; Complainant
indicated
that he disagreed; Dodd told Complainant that there was nothing further to discuss; and each
said
"good-bye." Dodd viewed Complainant's alienation of his colleagues to be a negative. In an
addendum to these notes, Complainant indicated, inter alia, that he had asked
for a meeting with
Dodd, Knaack and Complainant to discuss room assignments and Knaack's behavior and
continued
attempts to not give him a French room; that Dodd said he did not see any point in that
because
Complainant had received his French room; that when Complainant asked Dodd if
Complainant was
being treated fairly when Knaack yelled at Complainant, Dodd responded that he had been in
situations like that, when you are frustrated and can't get your point across, that the only
way to get
your point across is to raise your voice; that Complainant stated that Knaack did not raise his
voice,
but rather, yelled, and asked if Dodd thought that was proper; that Dodd responded that
those things
happen; that there was a discussion about the reliability of the student numbers for the
7th period class;
and that there was a discussion about Complainant's request to not have Sheehan or Knaack
supervise Complainant in which Dodd indicated that he could not promise anything. At the
time of
this July 29, 1997 conversation, Dodd had formed the opinion that Complainant's charges
against
Knaack were not very serious; that the matter had been resolved when Complainant received
his
French room; that the only reason that Complainant wanted to meet with Dodd was to have
Dodd
overrule Knaack's decision on the French room, which Dodd had no intention of doing; and
that
Dodd did not consider Complainant's complaints against Soto and Martin to raise an issue
that
needed to be resolved by Dodd. As a result of this telephone conversation, Complainant

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Dec. No. 29946-L

concluded that Dodd had given a stamp of approval to the conduct of Knaack that
Complainant
viewed to be hostile and that such approval was not appropriate for a public school system.
As a
result of these conclusions, Complainant on July 29, 1997, telephoned School Board
Vice-President
Susan Leonard, an individual with whom he believed he had a friendly relationship. Leonard
listened
to Complainant's concerns and agreed to discuss the matter with Dodd. Following this
conversation,
Complainant drafted notes of the conversation. As these notes indicate, Complainant told
Leonard,
inter alia, that the French program had been treated unfairly; that he had
discussed the need for a
dedicated French room several times in Department meetings, but had gotten nowhere; that
when he
went to Sheehan, Sheehan had seemed sympathetic, but that, when room assignments were
made,
there was no dedicated French room; that when he went to Sheehan to discuss the matter,
Sheehan
referred the matter to Solsrud; that Solsrud had called the May 28th
meeting, which became heated;
that two days later Soto and Martin maligned him; that Knaack had yelled at Complainant on
July
17th; that it was unfair that French, with the largest section, had been
placed in the smallest classroom;
that he had to fight to receive the consideration that French should have received without a
fight; that
he had sacrificed any chance of having a decent rapport with Knaack and Sheehan in order to
assert
the rights that the program deserved; that he did not believe that the School Board would
have
approved of what had transpired; and that he felt that his career at the District was in
jeopardy since
he had irritated both Knaack and Sheehan, and Dodd thought he was a difficult person who
alienated
everyone. As Complainant's notes also indicate, Leonard was quite sympathetic; agreed that
matters
could have been handled better; volunteered to call Dodd to discuss this issue; indicated that
room
assignments should be worked out at lower levels if possible, but if that was not possible,
then
someone needed to exert leadership and resolve the matter fairly. After this telephone
conversation,
Leonard met with Dodd and discussed the French room assignment issue, but Leonard was
not
critical of the decisions that had been made by administration.

7. On August 6, 1997, Complainant had a telephone conversation with Leonard.
Shortly
after this conversation, Complainant made notes of this conversation. As these notes
indicate,
Leonard stated that she and her husband had met with Dodd on August 4th
to discuss their concerns;
that Dodd had indicated that he would meet with Knaack to discuss what the Leonards had
discussed
with Dodd; that Dodd had indicated that he would make no commitment; that Leonard had
read
certain materials that she had received from Complainant, including his July
17th and 25th letters to
Dodd and his July 29 notes of his conversations with Dodd and Leonard; and that Leonard
told
Complainant that she hoped things would work out "ok." While not reflected in these notes,
Leonard
told Complainant that she was not concerned about the room assignment change and did not
want
to discuss this change. From this telephone conversation, Complainant understood that Dodd
would
be talking to Knaack. Complainant expected Dodd to contact Complainant to put
Complainant's
mind at ease. When Dodd did not do so, Complainant on August 7, 1997, telephoned Dodd
and
Dodd confirmed that the room assignment remained unchanged. Shortly after this telephone
conversation,

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Complainant made notes of this conversation. As these notes indicate, Dodd confirmed
that he met
with Knaack to discuss the room assignment process; that Dodd had advised Knaack that
there was
a perception, shared by Dodd, that Knaack "had it in" for foreign languages; that Dodd
cited, as an
example, Knaack's attempt to reduce another foreign language teacher from 100% to 80%
FTE,
which attempt was not allowed by Dodd; that Dodd advised Knaack that he had to correct
this
perception; that Dodd indicated that Knaack should have told Solsrud to provide a French
room and
then let the teachers work out the specifics; that Complainant indicated that his greater
concern was
the hostility that had been shown to him; that Dodd advised Complainant that he would keep
the July
17th letter on file; and that, if Complainant experienced any further
problems, then Complainant could
come to Dodd, but that Dodd could not guarantee that Complainant would have a 100%
position,
have the room of his choice, or would not be assigned more than 30 students, but that
Complainant
would be treated fairly. Complainant was not disciplined for his lawsuit against Soto and
Martin, or
for his attempts to obtain a dedicated French room. On Friday, August 8, 1997,
Complainant went
to the Junior High Office and encountered Sheehan. Shortly after this encounter,
Complainant made
notes of this encounter. As these notes establish, Complainant requested and Sheehan agreed
to
provide Complainant with a copy of the original room assignments for the 1997-98 school
year;
Complainant requested and Sheehan agreed to meet with Complainant at that time; Sheehan
sat down
and Complainant remained standing; Complainant told Sheehan that Complainant was going
to ask
the School Board to invoke a disciplinary hearing against Sheehan and Knaack because the
both of
them had been very unfair in the way that they handled the room assignment issue; Sheehan
responded "Oh;" Complainant told Sheehan that he was going to tell Knaack this, but that he
understood that Knaack had taken vacation, and asked Sheehan if he would tell Knaack;
Sheehan said
"Ok"; and Complainant left the office. In a letter dated August 26, 1997 and addressed to
Knaack,
Complainant stated the following:

I found out from Connie Solsrud today that Mike Sheehan
would
be my direct supervisor this
year. This afternoon, I went to Mike and asked him if he would arrange to have someone
else (i.e.
Kris Gilmore or Connie Solsrud) be my direct supervisor this year. He asked me why. I
responded
that because of all the turmoil I had to go through in the process of getting a room dedicated
to
French, turmoil that he had a part in, I didn't feel comfortable having him as my direct
supervisor.
Mike replied that he would not arrange to make such a change. I asked him then to write
out a memo
(and sign it) to the effect that I had requested such a change, and that he had turned it down.
Mike
replied that he may write such a memo, but then again, he may not.

Since you are Mike's superior, I am now
making the request of you that you arrange to have
either Kris Gilmore (my first choice) or Connie Solsrud be my direct supervisor this year.
Thank you.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

By letter dated August 27, 1997, Knaack advised Complainant of the following:

I am in receipt of your letter of August 26, 1997 asking for a
change in primary supervisors.
As I am sure you are aware, the primary supervisor works directly with you for
improvement of
instruction. I see no relationship between the supervision process and, as you stated in your
letter,
the turmoil that occurred over a French room.

Please be cognizant of the fact that
although Mr. Sheehan is your primary supervisor, that
Mrs. Solsrud, Mrs. Gilmore, or myself may also on occasion observe you in your teaching
environment.

Hope you have a successful 1997-98 school
year.

Kristine Gilmore began working for the District in the 1997-98
school year and had contact with
Complainant in his capacity as a scorer and timer at various athletic events, as well as in the
normal
day-to-day interactions that she has with teachers. In Knaack's opinion, to grant
Complainant's
request regarding the assignment of supervision would have harmed the District by setting a
precedent that a teacher selects his or her own supervisors. In Complainant's opinion,
Knaack's
statement indicating that other supervisors may, on occasion, observe Complainant was a
subtle
message that Knaack was going to harass Complainant. By letter dated August 27, 1997,
Sheehan
advised Complainant of the following:

Yesterday you requested that I not be the
administrator that works with you in the supervision
process. Upon receiving a copy of the memo that you sent to Mr. Knaack, I discussed the
situation
with him.

Mr. Knaack and I are in agreement that a
change will not be necessary. I am afraid that you
may be missing the point of the supervision process here at D.C. Everest Junior High
School.

Our view always has been, and certainly
will remain, that the best source of staff development
is the supervision process. The goal of the supervision process is to work with you and all
other
teachers to help you grow into the most effective teacher you can be. I hope that you can
understand
this.

At this time there is no relationship
between this opportunity for professional growth and ".
. .the turmoil I had to go through in the process of getting a room dedicated to French. . ."
It is my
hope that you are able to see the purpose for which our supervision process operates and are
able to
enter into the process with a positive spirit. It may be necessary for you to look past any

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Dec. No. 29946-L

perceived problems of the past summer in
order for you to take advantage of this opportunity
for professional growth.

In the days ahead all of the teachers that I
will be working with will be sent a communication
regarding goal setting. I might suggest that you begin to focus on those goals for
professional
development at this time.

In a letter dated August 28, 1997, Complainant appealed to Dodd to change his
primary supervisor.
This letter includes the following:

On Tuesday, August 26, 1997, I was informed that Mike Sheehan
would be my primary
supervisor during the 1997-98 school year. I went to his office that afternoon and very
politely asked
him to arrange to have either Kris Gilmore or Corinne Solsrud be my primary supervisor
instead of
him. He declined my request, so that same afternoon I wrote a memo to Bob Knaack about
the
matter. A copy of said memo is attached hereto as Exhibit #1 and incorporated herein by
reference.
Yesterday, I received Bob's memo of reply. A copy of said memo is attached hereto as
Exhibit #2
and incorporated herein by reference. Mike also wrote a memo of reply. A copy of said
memo is
attached hereto as Exhibit #3 and incorporated herein by reference.

I wish to make it perfectly clear that I
strongly object to this refusal to accommodate a very
reasonable request on my part. Given the turmoil that Iwas subjected to this spring and summer by
both Mike Sheehan and Bob Knaack, this insistence on having Mike be my primary
supervisor is a
clear form of harassment. Serious issues are raised as to Mike's objectivity and impartiality.

Both Bob and Mike maintained in their
replies to my request that there is no connection between
the supervision process and the hostility to me that they have recently demonstrated. Such a
connection is extremely disingenuous. Everyone is perfectly aware that the supervision
process can
be very uncomfortable if the supervisor is not impartial or even appears to have other
motives.

Their contention that Mike is better suited
to helping me grow professionally than are Kris
Gilmore or Corinne Solsrud ­ both of whom are primary supervisors to a number of
other teachers,
including members of the Foreign Languages Department ­ doesn't hold water. If the
goal is truly
"to help [me] grow into the most effective teacher [I] can be", that goal would be much more

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Dec. No. 29946-L

likely to be achieved if I were to work with
a primary supervisor whose objectivity is not in
doubt. This does not include Bob Knaack or Mike Sheehan.

Please consider this. Thank you.

Dodd responded in a letter dated September 2, 1997, which includes the following:

ASSIGNMENT OF GEORGE
MUDROVICH IN THE SUPERVISION PROCESS

I am in receipt of your letter dated August
28, 1997, in which you request that Mr. Sheehan,
Assistant Principal, not be your primary supervisor during the 1997-98 school year. The
assignment
of teachers to supervisors has always been delegated to the principal of each building. In the
past,
principals have used very good judgment in the assignment of teachers to the people available
for
supervision in the building. I find your assignment to Mr. Sheehan is not contrary to that
long-understood and well-developed process. To allow teachers to request a particular
supervisor would
undermine the process, particularly, since inequities would arise. Not all principals have the
opportunity to assign staff to different supervisors. Teachers who did not want the principal
in the
building to supervise them would not have the same advantage as teachers in a building
where there
is more than one person to supervise instruction.

Philosophically, of course, the supervision
process has nothing to do with the managerial process
of assigning rooms, duties, and other contractual matters. Supervision as viewed in the D.C.
Everest
School District is an opportunity to talk professionally about the teaching act and how
students can
learn better through enhancing the teaching act. Mr. Sheehan is an expert at the
supervision process
and will be able to afford you the very best in consultation relative to teaching and learning.
You are,
indeed, fortunate to have Mr. Sheehan as your classroom instructional supervisor.

I have all the confidence in the world that
you will have a productive experience as a classroom
teacher during the 1997-98 school year. If you should have any further questions, please feel
free to
contact Mr. Hazaert or me in our offices.

Prior to sending this letter, Dodd asked Knaack why Knaack had assigned Sheehan to
supervise
Complainant. In responding to Complainant's request to not have Sheehan supervise
Complainant,
Dodd gave consideration to the fact that Principals normally have discretion to determine
who
supervises teachers on their staff; that Solsrud and Gilmore were relatively new to their jobs
and that
it would be beneficial to assign Complainant to a more experienced

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Dec. No. 29946-L

supervisor; that Solsrud had supervised Complainant during the previous year; and
that, if Sheehan
were to supervise Complainant, it would provide both with the opportunity to engage in
collegial
activity and provide Sheehan with an opportunity to build some bridges with Complainant.
Dodd did
not give consideration to Complainant's personal preferences and did not consider it
appropriate to
do so. In Complainant's opinion, Dodd gave no credence to his expressed concerns about
Sheehan's
impartiality and Dodd was condescending when he told Complainant that Complainant was
lucky to
have Sheehan as his supervisor. In Complainant's opinion, it would not have cost the
District
anything to grant his supervision request; the administration's response indicated that the
administration were not willing to accommodate his fears and concerns in a way that
sensitive
management should treat professional employees; that administration intended to show
Complainant
who was boss; and that, if Complainant did not like that, he could leave the District.
Neither
Sheehan, nor Knaack, ever expressed to Dodd that they had hard feelings about the fact that
Complainant went over their heads on the French room issue. Dodd did not learn of any
further
dispute between Complainant and Sheehan until the end of the 1997-98 school year.

8. Complainant sent a letter dated September 9, 1997, to Susan Leonard, Vice
President,
D.C. Everest Area School District Board of Education, which included the following:

The three D.C. Everest School District
administrators who caused me so much turmoil this past
spring and summer ­ D.C. Everest Junior High School Asst. Principal Mike Sheehan,
D.C. Everest
Junior High School Principal Bob Knaack, and D.C. Everest School District Superintendent
Dr.
Roger Dodd ­ are continuing to treat me unfairly. Recent actions on their part have
made it clear that
they plan to harass me. I have been advised that the appropriate step for me to take at this
point is
to appeal directly to the D.C. Everest School District Board of Education.

Since you were very helpful to me this past
summer, and are familiar with the turmoil I was
subjected to by these three D.C. Everest School District employees, I am hereby formally
requesting
through you that the Board of Education invoke a disciplinary hearing against the three of
them.

The recent actions I referred to above
revolve around Bob Knaack's decision to assign Mike
Sheehan as my primary supervisor during the 1997/98 school year. I have enclosed relevant
Exhibits
#1 - #5 for your perusal.

Please let me elaborate on the problems
relating to this assignment of Mike Sheehan as my
primary supervisor:

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Dec. No. 29946-L

1) I did not relate this to Dr. Dodd in
my August 28th memo to him (Exhibit #4), but in early
August, I told Mike Sheehan face-to-face that I was going to request of the Board of
Education that
they invoke a disciplinary hearing against both him and Bob Knaack for the extremely unfair
way that
they had handled the whole matter of the assignment of a French room. Mike said very little
in
response to that statement of mine, but he could not have been pleased by it. [I did not
make that
request right away at that time because the attorney who is handling my case against Shar
Soto and
Holly Martin advised me to wait a while. Recent events have led him to conclude that it
would not
be advisable to wait any longer.]

2) All three of the above-named have
maintained in their memos of reply to me that there is no
connection between the supervision process and the turmoil I was subjected to this past
spring and
summer. Every teacher knows full well that in the real world, administrators can use the
supervision
process as a means to harass a given teacher. Bob Knaack made a veiled threat to do just
that in the
second paragraph of his August 27th memo to me (Exhibit #2). I
would like to have the opportunity
to question Bob on just how many times during the last few years either he or Mike Sheehan
carried
out an observation of a teacher to whom they were not assigned as primary supervisor (or
who hadn't
invited them to observe, or who were not assigned to work with them in a course such as the
Effective Teacher program). I suspect that such observations are rare in the extreme at D.C.
Everest
Junior High School, and that when they have been carried out, it was with the intention of
harassing
the teacher in question.

Most teachers would also confirm that in
their experience, some administrators consciously
try to make teachers that they don't like feel uncomfortable during both the observation and
the post-observation conference. I would like to have the opportunity to question both Bob
and Mike in front
of the Board as to whether either of them has ever behaved in such a manner.

3) Mike Sheehan's memo of reply
(Exhibit #3) reads like a letter from a member of the
Inquisition to a citizen that said citizen should "enter into the process with a positive spirit"
and
should feel fortunate that they can "take advantage of this opportunity for. . .growth."

This matter of my objection to the
assignment of Mike Sheehan as my primary supervisor is,
however, only a small part of the reason I am requesting the disciplinary hearing against Dr.
Dodd,
Bob Knaack, and Mike Sheehan. The source of my concern and distress is that the three of
them,
either together or separately, have engaged in actions in the time period since the French
program

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Dec. No. 29946-L

was instituted at D.C. Everest School
District that have caused severe damage to my career as
a teacher.

Now, Bob Knaack himself admitted (see
page 23 of my July 17th letter to Dr. Dodd) that both
he and Mike went on record at the time as being opposed to the introduction of a French
program
at D.C. Everest Junior High School. My understanding is that Dr. Dodd, then principal at
D.C.
Everest Senior High School, had also gone on record as being opposed to the introduction of
a
French program at D.C. Everest Senior High School.

Let me cite examples that would indicate to
any unbiased observer that the three of them,
subsequent to the institution of the French program at D.C. Everest Junior High School and
D. C.
Everest Senior High School, engaged in actions designed to hobble said French program:

1) It has been related to me that
during the first year of the French program, the D.C. Everest
Junior High School administrators chose to place a large number of students who were totally
inappropriate into the first French class. Many of these students were known to be trouble
makers,
and their academic records made it obvious that they had no business taking any foreign
language
courses. The teacher, Mrs. Noble, repeatedly asked for assistance in disciplining these
students, but
was denied such assistance. In frustration, she left the employment of D.C. Everest School
District
after only one semester.

2) During the 1995/96 school year,
there was a French I course at D.C. Everest Senior High
School. For the 1996/97 school year, D.C. Everest School District refused to offer a French
2 course
at D.C. Everest Senior High School, apparently because there were only 12 students signed
up for
it. Now, the overwhelming number of students beginning a course in foreign language study
at any
high school are college-bound students who are trying to satisfy either entrance requirements
or
eventual graduation requirements at the college of their choice. In fact, it is well known that
UW
Madison uses foreign language course experience as a de facto screening tool for admission
of
Freshmen. Now, when a student begins a course of study of a given foreign language at the
high
school level, there is an implicit "contract" between himself and said high school that he will
be
allowed to proceed to the next level of study of said foreign language in each subsequent
year. To
abrogate such an implicit contract in one of the initial years of the French program sends a
clear signal
to all students and guidance counselors that embarking on a course of study in French is a
risky
proposition. And, indeed, that message was received by students at D.C. Everest Senior
High
School, since during the current school year, the only way

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Teacher Anne Berns could get a French I
class at D.C. Everest Senior High School was to agree
to teach a combined French 1/French 2 class ­ a clearly difficult proposition.

It is interesting to note that D.C. Everest
Junior High School allowed a beginning German
(if there is ever a time to appropriately tell students that they need to choose a different
language, it
is before they have even begun the course of study) section of only 13 students to go ahead
for the
1997/98 school year.

3) During the 1996/97 school year,
Teacher Anne Berns was assigned six sections of French (2
at D.C. Everest Junior High School, 4 at D.C. Everest Senior High School), ostensibly to
save money
by keeping me at 50% FTE, since that would mean that I would have only 3 sections instead
of 4.
This assignment of six sections was in addition to the condition that she travel between the
two
schools. Has D.C. Everest School District ever before imposed such a load on a teacher
traveling
between the Senior and Junior High Schools?

During the same 1996/97 school year, the
administrators of D.C. Everest School District
assigned the four full-time teachers of Spanish at the Junior High School (none of whom
travel
between the Senior and Junior High Schools) to teach only
five sections each. And an additional
Spanish teacher was employed to teach only two sections at the Junior High School. Now, if
D.C.
Everest School District was truly interested in saving money in an equitable way, why didn't
they
simply eliminate that part-time Spanish position at D.C. Everest Junior High School and
assign six
sections to two of the four full-time Spanish teachers, instead of assigning six sections to a
traveling
French teacher?

4) The adamant refusal to assign a
room to the French program this year is the final example I
wish to cite at this time. I wish to make it clear that this was not a problem that just made
itself
known at the end of the 1996/97 school year. I went to see Mike Sheehan about said matter
in
October of 1996. I put forth the same argument to him about a French room that the
Spanish
teachers had been so insistent about a year before: namely, that there should be a room that
provided
a "little piece of France" in the school during the 1997/98 school year, since there were
four "little
pieces of Spain" during the 1996/97 school year. Mike replied that he would certainly not
allow the
Spanish teachers to make that argument about their rooms if they weren't prepared to have
the same
argument apply to a French room. At his suggestion, I wrote a memo (see Exhibit #6)
on October
18, 1996 to all my Foreign Language colleagues. When I received no response to this
memo, I went
to Mike in order to ask him to impose such a

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Dec. No. 29946-L

decision on the Foreign Language
Department. Mike told me he would consider this. On several
occasions during the 1996/97 school year, I went to his office to ask him if he had made a
decision
on room assignments for the following 1997/98 school year. At each instance, he told me
that he had
not finalized the room assignments, but that he would let me know when he had. I took
Mike at his
word. I only found out about the official room assignments after someone pointed out to me
in May
1997 that the room assignments were part of the master list that showed section assignments.
I then
went to see Mike on or about May 20th to ask him why he had not done
what he had agreed to do.
Apparently, Mike then passed the buck down to Corinne Solsrud (the Foreign Language
Curriculum
Coordinator), because I was informed that same day that Corinne had called a May
28th meeting for
the Foreign Language Dept. It was obvious that a meeting so late in the school year must be
to
discuss the room assignment matter that I had complained about.

My initial thought about this meeting was
that Mike would surely have instructed Corrine to
make sure that there would be a French room for the 1997/98 school year, but that Mike
didn't want
to be perceived as the "bad guy" ­ that he wanted to push that off onto either Corinne
or me. I
figured I could live with that.

When Bob and Mike later learned the
consequences of pushing the "bad guy" status off onto
me ­ that Shar Soto and Holly Martin decided to try to resolve our departmental
dispute by falsely
accusing me of being verbally abusive to a female subordinate ­ they did nothing to set
the matter
straight, even though I specifically pointed out to both Bob and Mike that these false
allegations were
obviously connected to Shar and Holly's anger over my insistence on having a French room
if there
were four Spanish rooms. They even ended up by rewarding Shar and Holly for this
malicious attack
by giving them exactly what they had wanted!

After I found out that Shar and Holly were
indeed two of the four teachers who had made this
false accusation of abuse on May 30th, I asked Bob Knaack to convoke a
meeting with me, him, Shar
and Holly, Carol Maki (the aide I had allegedly abused), and Bob Coleman. Bob told me
that he
would think about it, but he later told me that there was no way that he would call such a
meeting.
Several weeks later, Bob told my attorney that he refused to call such a meeting because the
other
teachers involved had objected. This is a perfect example of the antipathy that both Bob
Knaack and
Mike Sheehan have demonstrated to me ­ they had no problem with Shar and Holly
making such a
malicious false accusation against me, but Bob wouldn't even call a meeting to discuss the
matter,
because, according to Bob, Shar and Holly objected to it.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

This clear pattern of antipathy to the French program
vis-à-vis the Spanish program placed me
in a no-win situation. In order to have any hope of a future as a full-time French teacher at
D.C.
Everest School District, I was forced by Mike Sheehan, Bob Knaack, and Dr. Roger Dodd
into the
unenviable position of having to make a stand against their unfair actions. But by making
this stand,
I unavoidably incurred their antipathy. It is very obvious that this antipathy has not gone
away, and
that it never will.

When I accepted employment at D.C.
Everest School District, it was with the understanding that
I would be treated like any other teacher employed by D.C. Everest School District. I
naturally
believed that I would have the same opportunities to advance and prosper in my career at
D.C.
Everest School District that all other teachers employed by D.C. Everest School District
have. But
my future at D.C. Everest School District is in the hands of these three men who have
treated me so
unfairly. This naturally causes me much distress.

I trust that the information included in this
letter will lead you to believe that it would be in the
best interests of D.C. Everest School District to take an active part in resolving this matter.

At the time that Complainant wrote this letter, he had the opinion that the School
Board would be
a fair forum to arrive at a fair decision between two elements under their control,
i.e., teachers and
administration. When Leonard showed this letter to Dodd, he told Leonard that the School
Board
should hear Complainant's complaints and discipline Dodd if he needed discipline. In
Dodd's
opinion, Leonard did not take Complainant's complaints seriously. Dodd never criticized
Knaack
regarding any allegation contained in Complainant's letter of September 9, 1997. Leonard
did not
contact Complainant to discuss this letter. When Complainant happened to see Leonard
while she
was at his school, she indicated that she had received the letter and that Complainant would
be given
a response. In Complainant's opinion, Leonard was cold toward him and more or less
turned her
back on him, which Complainant did not view as a good omen. The School Board, in a
September
23, 1997 executive session, reviewed the letter of September 9, 1997. Dodd reported
to the School
Board that the District's attorney had advised that there was a contractual grievance
procedure to
handle such complaints. The School Board members read parts of this letter; engaged in
very little
discussion of this letter; and directed Dodd to advise Complainant that there was a grievance
procedure in place to address such issues. No School Board member expressed criticism of
Dodd's
conduct toward Complainant at this School Board meeting. Nor did any School Board
member
thereafter indicate to Dodd that he/she felt that Dodd had not properly handled matters
involving
Complainant. By letter dated September 25, 1997, Dodd advised Complainant of the
following:

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Dec. No. 29946-L

On September 23, 1997, in executive
session of the D.C. Everest School Board the board
members reviewed the letter you sent to Mrs. Leonard asking for a hearing to discipline Dr.
Dodd,
Mr. Knaack and Mr. Sheehan. At the conclusion of their review, they asked that I inform
you that
there is a grievance process in place that can be used to address such issues.

Dodd did not recommend that Complainant's letter to Leonard be addressed informally
because he
believed that Complainant took it past informality when Complainant requested that
Principals be
disciplined. Complainant considered this letter to a bad omen because it indicated that the
School
Board would not discuss the letter with him and had permitted the people that he had
complained
about to rule on their own behavior. In Complainant's opinion, this was a fishy way to
resolve his
complaints. Complainant's attempts to obtain a dedicated French room; Complainant's May,
1997
note to Maki; Complainant's complaints to District administration regarding Soto and
Martin's
conduct in complaining about Complainant's treatment of Maki; Complainant's lawsuit
against Soto
and Martin; Complainant's attempts to have someone other than Knaack and Sheehan
supervise
complainant; and Complainant's September 9, 1997 letter to Leonard were not for the
purpose of
collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, but rather, were for the purpose of
furthering
purely individual concerns.

9. After receiving Dodd's letter of September 25, 1997, Complainant met with
Gerry
LaBarge to discuss filing a grievance. LaBarge, who has been employed as a District
teacher since
1983, was the DCETA Grievance Chairperson. LaBarge and UniServ Director Coffey
assisted with
the preparation of this grievance based upon notes of Complainant. Complainant, however,
drafted
the remedy portion of the grievance. Complainant signed this grievance, but the optional
space for
the signature of "Employee Representative's Signature" was blank. Although LaBarge
considered
this grievance to be valid, the Association did not sign this grievance, in part, because the
Association
was concerned about the personal nature of the grievance and the corrective action being
sought in
the grievance. LaBarge doubted that the remedies requested by Complainant were available
under
the contract and advised Complainant accordingly. Coffey, but not LaBarge, considered it
possible
that the grievance would benefit someone other than Complainant. This grievance states that
its
subject matter is "Creation of a Hostile Work Environment" and indicates that it was
distributed to
the "Grievant, Principal, President of the D.C.E.T.A., P.R. & R. Chairperson and
Supt. of Schools."
Attached to this grievance were written statements that included the following:

. . .

During the 1996/1997 school year, Mr.
George Mudrovich attempted to work with his
department and building administrators in creating a supportive atmosphere for the students
who take
French at the Junior High.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Mr. Mudrovich tried to work with his department
colleagues from the beginning of the year to
get a classroom dedicated to the teaching of French, as there were at that time four
classrooms
dedicated to Spanish and one to German. When Mr. Mudrovich was unable to get the
issue brought
before his department, he tried to enlist the support of Mr. Mike Sheehan. On or about May
20th,
1997, Mr. Sheehan directed Mrs. Corinne Solsrud, Foreign Language Department
Curriculum
Coordinator, to call a department meeting and discuss the issue of a French room. The
meeting,
which took place on May 28th, did not result in a classroom dedicated to
the teaching of French, and
instead led to a hostile work environment, creating competition among the foreign language
teachers
for classrooms. When asked to intervene and treat the French program as fairly as the other
foreign
languages, Mr. Sheehan ruled on or about June 2nd, and again on June
18th, not to give the French
program its own classroom.

On June 18th, Mr. Mudrovich asked Mr. Robert
Knaack to reverse Mr. Sheehan's decision, and
to assign the French program its own room. Mr. Knaack refused to do so.
Mr. Mudrovich continued
to lobby for fair treatment of the French program by appealing the matter to Dr. Roger Dodd
and Mr.
Dan Haezert. On July 17th, 1997, after Mr. Knaack and Mr. Haezert had
had a conference to discuss
this very matter, Mr. Knaack again denied Mr. Mudrovich's request in a meeting with
him in his
office. A second, acrimonious meeting on that same day did finally result in Mr. Knaack
agreeing to
assign Room #10 to the French program. Because of the larger class size of the French class
in
comparison with the Spanish class held in the larger Room #7 (31 students versus 26
students), Mr.
Mudrovich lobbied for equal access to school facilities and asked for the larger room, but
was denied
such fair treatment in an angry, abusive, and aggressive manner by Mr. Knaack. Mr.
Knaack even
resorted to threatening Mr. Mudrovich's career by saying that he could call several parents to
tell
them that their children wouldn't be allowed to take French. Furthermore, on or about July
25, Mr.
Knaack even renegged on the assignment to French of Room #10 when he informed Mr.
Mudrovich
by telephone that he had unilaterally changed the room assignment to the smallest classroom
in the
department, Room #11.

Mr. Mudrovich appealed to Dr. Dodd, in a
memo dated July 17th, 1997 (which Dr. Dodd received
on or about July 28th), that there be a meeting to include Dr. Dodd, Mr.
Knaack and Mr. Mudrovich
to discuss the unfair, hostile treatment of both the French program and of
Mr. Mudrovich himself by
Mr. Knaack. Dr. Dodd denied this request during a phone conversation Mr. Mudrovich had
with him
on July 29th, 1997.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Mr. Mudrovich has become aware that at
some time between July 25th and July 29th, 1997,
Mr. Knaack denied him due process by passing unsubstantiated criticisms of Mr.
Mudrovich up the
chain of command to Dr. Dodd, giving Dr. Dodd the clear impression that said
unsubstantiated
criticisms were the undisputed truth. This action prejudiced Dr. Dodd's opinion of Mr.
Mudrovich.
Proof of this assertion is that Dr. Dodd later told a third party that Mr. Mudrovich is "the
type of
person who tells other teachers to 'go shove it'." These actions have sabotaged any chance
Mr.
Mudrovich would have had to advance in his career at D.C. Everest School District.

Mr. Mudrovich has also become aware that
the program he was helping to develop and support
was undermined by the elimination of a French 2 class at the Senior High during the
1996/1997
school year, thus making it more difficult to build and develop the program. Students need
to know
that, once they have begun a sequence of courses in a given language, they will be able to
continue
their studies in said foreign language in order to satisfy eventual college entrance and/or
graduation
requirements. This further erosion of the program made it clear that the French program
was being
undermined and was not being treated the same as the other foreign languages in the District.
The
elimination of that French 2 class also reduced the total number of sections of French in the
D.C.
Everest School District from 10 to 9, which resulted in Mr. Mudrovich being employed at
65% FTE
during the 1996/1997 school year, and at 80% FTE during the 1997/1998 school year, when
he
should have been employed at 100% FTE during both years.

As a result of the way this issue of
providing equal opportunity for all foreign language students
was handled by the D.C. Everest School District administration, there has been verbal abuse
toward
Mr. Mudrovich by Mr. Knaack, and a continuing hostile work environment within
Mr. Mudrovich's
department and also between Mr. Mudrovich and Dr. Dodd, Mr. Knaack and Mr.
Sheehan.

At no time since May
20th, 1997 has any of the above-named D.C. Everest School District
administrators made any apologies to Mr. Mudrovich for the treatment he has been subjected
to by
them. Indeed, it is clear to Mr. Mudrovich that the three above-named D.C. Everest
School District
administrators, by their insisting that Mr. Sheehan be Mr. Mudrovich's primary supervisor
during the
1997/1998 school year, and by Mr. Knaack's threatening to subject Mr. Mudrovich to a
barrage of
classroom observations, have decided to harass Mr. Mudrovich in retribution for Mr.
Mudrovich
having asserted the rights that the French program should have been accorded on its own
merits.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

REQUEST FOR SETTLEMENT OR CORRECTIVE ACTION
DESIRED:

Such corrective action shall include, but not
be limited to, the following:

A public apology shall be
made by Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Knaack, and Dr. Dodd for their unfair
treatment of Mr. Mudrovich and the French program.

A sum of money, to be
determined later, shall be paid to Mr. Mudrovich as compensation for
the mental anguish caused by said unfair treatment and the hostile work environment that has
been created by said actions.

D.C. Everest School District shall assign someone
other than Mr. Knaack or Mr. Sheehan as
Mr. Mudrovich's primary supervisor during the 1997/1998 school year. Additionally,
neither
Mr. Knaack nor Mr. Sheehan shall ever be the primary supervisor of Mr. Mudrovich
in future
years, nor shall they enter a classroom where Mr. Mudrovich is teaching, except in the case
of an emergency, or for some other such non-supervisory purposes.

D.C. Everest School District shall guarantee Mr.
Mudrovich a 100% contract as a French
teacher for as long as he chooses to remain with the D.C. Everest School District.

The D.C. Everest School District shall pay the
difference between the 65% FTE pay and the
100% FTE pay for the 1996/97 school year, and should increase Mr. Mudrovich's current
80% FTE to 100% FTE.

Beginning with the 2000/2001 school year, the
District shall compensate Mr. Mudrovich by
paying him at the same rate of pay as a Curriculum Coordinator, since the hostile work
environment created by Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Knaack and Dr. Dodd will unquestionably
prevent
Mr. Mudrovich's promotion to that position. It is reasonable to assume that he would have
had an excellent chance to be promoted to that position by that time.

There shall be a formal hearing to determine
whether the actions of Dr. Dodd and Mr.
Knaack, during conversations between Dr. Dodd and Mr. Knaack concerning Mr.
Mudrovich,
were in violation of Wisconsin Statute 134.01.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

In LaBarge's experience, disputes between DCETA teachers and administrators are
generally
resolved prior to filing a written grievance and this ability to resolve disputes has caused the
District
to work very well. Consistent with normal practices, Complainant and LaBarge met with
Knaack to
discuss the grievance prior to filing the grievance. On October 29, 1997, Complainant filed
the
written grievance alleging the "Creation of a Hostile Work Environment." Complainant did
not
consider the grievance procedure to be the appropriate place to address the issues presented
in his
letter of September 9, 1997, and resented having to use the grievance process to raise these
issues
with the School Board. Complainant did not file his grievance of October 29, 1997 and raise
the
concerns expressed therein for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or
protection,
but rather, filed this grievance and raised the concerns expressed therein to further a purely
individual
concern. Knaack, who received the written grievance, was shocked by this grievance
because he
believed that Complainant wanted the administrators reprimanded for personal reasons.
Knaack
considered such a reprimand request to be unusual. After the grievance was filed, Knaack
told Dodd
that a grievance had been filed and explained that the grievance was alleging a hostile work
environment. Prior to responding to the grievance, Knaack reviewed the contract language
and
concluded that there was no contractual violation. In a letter dated November 4, 1997,
Knaack
provided the following Step 1 grievance response:

I am in receipt of your grievance dated
October 29, 1997. At that time, you informed us that you
wish to grieve Article 2 ­ School Board Functions and Article 30 ­ Equal
Employment Opportunity
Policy. As I review these sections of the General Contract For And Between The D.C.
Everest Area
School District and The D.C. Everest Teacher's Association, I find no violation. Therefore,
your
grievance is denied.

. . .

cc: Dr. Dodd

Shirley Kislow

Gerry LaBarge

On November 18, 1997, Complainant, LaBarge, and Coffey met with Dodd, Hazaert,
and Owens at
Step 2 of the grievance procedure. Dodd did not resent the fact that Complainant had filed
this
grievance. Dodd asked Hazaert and Assistant Superintendent for Business and Personnel
Tom
Owens to take notes of this meeting, which notes were not verbatim. During the Step 2
meeting,
Complainant requested copies of Owens and Hazaert's notes. When Dodd refused this
request,
Complainant became agitated and stated that the notes had to be kept for

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Court. After hearing Complainant's statements and responses to Dodd's questions,
Dodd decided
that there was no merit to Complainant's allegations. During the meeting, Dodd became
agitated
when he discussed Complainant's allegation that conversations of the administrators may
have
violated Sec. 134.01, Stats. Dodd told Complainant that Complainant's allegations regarding
Sec.
134.01 were off the wall and that it was highly irresponsible of Complainant to have made
such
allegations. Dodd was perturbed by the Sec. 134.01 allegation when he initially read
the grievance
and considered this allegation to be outlandish, unfounded and to threaten the administrators
with
legalities. Complainant's allegation that administrators may have violated Sec. 134.01,
Stats., was
based upon his opinion that it was unreasonable for Dodd to have accepted Knaack's
criticisms of
Complainant's relationship with Berns as the truth. At this meeting, Dodd concluded that the
grievance would be settled only if Complainant were given everything that Complainant
wanted.
Dodd was not willing to allow Complainant to decide who would or would not be his
supervisor
because it would set a precedent that teachers, not Principals, have authority to assign
supervisors.
Additionally, Dodd was of the opinion that, if he usurped the authority of the Principals, it
would
adversely impact upon his ability to work with the Principals. Dodd considered it
reasonable to
overrule the Principal in the French room decision because there was merit to Complainant's
French
room claim. Dodd did not consider it reasonable to overrule the Principal in the supervision
issue
because there was no merit to Complainant's grievance and the supervisory assignment,
unlike the
French room assignment, was not a discrete event, but rather, would persist into the future.
When
Dodd prepared his Step 2 grievance response, he referred to Owens and Hazaert's notes of
the
grievance meeting and incorporated only those matters that he deemed to be relevant.
Dodd's Step
2 grievance response, dated November 24, 1997, includes the following:

FACTS AND ISSUES INVOLVED:

A review of the record indicates the following facts and issues involved:

During the spring and summer of 1997, Mr. Mudrovich enlisted
the support of the junior high
administration to have the use of a classroom dedicated to French. The administration's first
response
to his request was to have the foreign language department resolve the issue within the
foreign
language department. This process was not successful. The teachers of French were still
scheduled
in various rooms throughout the building when school ended. During the summer months,
Mr.
Mudrovich appealed to Dr. Dodd, Superintendent, to obtain a dedicated French room. Dr.
Dodd
asked that Mr. Hazaert, Assistant Superintendent, Instruction/Pupil Services, meet with Mr.
Knaack,
Junior High School Principal, to resolve the situation. After some discussion with
Mr. Knaack, a
French room was designated. However, Mr. Mudrovich did not

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Dec. No. 29946-L

like the French room assigned to him. He felt it was not large
enough. In the discussions with
Mr. Knaack, Mr. Mudrovich felt Mr. Knaack was angry, abusive and aggressive. Because
of the
persistence Mr. Mudrovich exhibited in trying to obtain the French room, he has
shown apprehension
about the way he will be treated and the status of his employment in the D.C. Everest School
District.
As early as August 7, 1997, Dr. Dodd received a phone call from Mr. Mudrovich
expressing his
opinion that Mr. Knaack and Mr. Sheehan might try to retaliate against him in the future.
Also,
because of this fear, Mr. Mudrovich in a letter to Mr. Knaack dated August 26,
1997, asked that
Mr. Sheehan not be assigned to be his classroom supervisor for the 1997-98 school
year. Mr. Knaack
and Mr. Sheehan denied this request in letters to Mr. Mudrovich dated August 27,
1997. In a letter
to Dr. Dodd dated August 28, 1997, Mr. Mudrovich asked that Dr. Dodd
intervene and appoint
someone else as his primary supervisor. In a letter addressed to Mr. Mudrovich dated
September 2,
1997, Dr. Dodd denied that request.

Because the request to relieve Mr. Sheehan as the primary
supervisor of Mr. Mudrovich during
the 1997-98 school year was denied, Mr. Mudrovich wrote a letter dated September 9, 1997,
to
board member Susan Burden Leonard asking for a board hearing which purpose it would be
to
discipline Dr. Dodd, Mr. Knaack and Mr. Sheehan. He stated that reason for the hearing
was because
they "are continuing to treat me unfairly" and "recent actions on their parts have made it
clear that
they plan to harass me." In that letter, Mr. Mudrovich listed several other ways he
felt the French
program had been treated unfairly. All board members were given a copy of that letter.
The board
discussed it in executive session on September 23, 1997. Board President Fisher asked that
Superintendent Dodd write Mr. Mudrovich a letter to inform him that there is a grievance
process
in place that can be used to address such issues. A letter informing Mr. Mudrovich of the
grievance
process was sent to him on September 25, 1997. On October 29, 1997, Mr. Mudrovich
approached
Mr. Knaack with a formal grievance. The grievance cited Article 2 and Article 30 of
the general
contract formed between the D.C. Everest School District and the D.C. Everest Teacher's
Association as having been violated.

ARTICLE 2 ­ SCHOOL
BOARD FUNCTIONS

The Board possesses the sole right
to operate the school system and all management rights
repose in it, subject only to the provisions of this contract and applicable law. These rights,
include,
but are not limited to, the following:

A. To direct all
operations of the school system;

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Dec. No. 29946-L

B. To establish and require observance of
reasonable work rules and schedules of work;

C. To hire,
promote, transfer, schedule and assign employees in positions with the school
system;

D. To suspend,
discharge and take other disciplinary action against employees;

E. To take
whatever action is necessary to comply with State or Federal law and to comply with
orders or settlements with State of (sic) Federal agencies;

F. To introduce
new or improved methods or facilities;

G. To change
existing methods or facilities;

H. To contract
out for goods or services;

I. To determine
the methods, means, and personnel by which school system operations are to
be conducted;

J. To determine
the educational policies of the school district;

K. To decide
upon the means and methods of instruction, the selection of textbooks, and other
teaching materials, and the use of teaching aids, class schedules, hours of instruction, length
of school year and terms and conditions of employment.

ARTICLE 30 ­ EQUAL
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY POLICY

It is the policy of the Board to
recognize competence and ability when hiring new teachers and
to provide genuine opportunities for careers within the school system. All positions within
the
district shall be filled on the basis of skill and ability. Except as required by applicable state
and
federal law, no consideration shall be given to race, color, creed, age, sex, handicap or
national
origin when hiring new teachers. It is understood that this provision shall not be subject to
the
arbitration provisions of this Agreement.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

In the explanation of the violation, Mr. Mudrovich repeated what
he had written to Mrs. Leonard
on September 9, 1997. On November 4, 1997, Mr. Knaack denied Mr. Mudrovich's
grievance on
the basis that Article 2 and Article 30 of the general contract formed between the D.C.
Everest
School District and the D.C. Everest Teacher's Association had not been violated.

On November 5, 1997, Mr. Mudrovich brought the grievance to
the Superintendent of Schools.
The same allegations about hostile environment, continued harassment, retaliation,
unfairness, and
loss of equal opportunity for employment were stipulated.

On November 12, 1997, Dr. Dodd sent a
letter to Mr. Mudrovich saying he would meet with him
about his grievance on Monday, November 17, 1997, at 3:30 p.m. Mr. Mudrovich called
Dr. Dodd
and asked that the date and time for the conference be changed to November 18, 1997 at
3:45 p.m.
On November 18, 1997, a meeting was held as per step 2 of the grievance process.
Present at the
meeting were George Mudrovich, teacher; Gerry LaBarge, DCETA representative; Tom
Coffey,
Uniserve Director; Superintendent Dodd; Assistant Superintendent, Instruction/Pupil Services
Dan
Hazaert; Assistant Superintendent, Business/Personnel Tom Owens.

ISSUES INVOLVED:

1. Has a hostile work
environment been created for Mr. Mudrovich?

2. Has the D.C. Everest
administration been unreasonable and unfair in the assignment of Mr.
Sheehan to supervise Mr. Mudrovich?

3. Have Mr. Mudrovich's
rights for equal opportunity for employment been violated?

REASONS FOR DECISION:

On the form filing this grievance, Mr.
Mudrovich states Article 2 and Article 30 of the teacher
contract have been violated. Mr. Mudrovich did not say how Article 2 has been violated.
Mr. Coffey
suggested that the district has exercised their managerial rights in an unreasonable way.
Whether a
person gets his or her own room is not a legitimate way to measure reasonableness. To
assume that
every teacher should have his or her own room is, in fact, unreasonable. It is very difficult
to respond
to this claim that the district violated Article 2 when the grievant does not specifically say
how Article
2 has been violated. The

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Dec. No. 29946-L

administration invoked their managerial
rights according to long-standing past practice the way
the contract says we should and in the way we do for every other teacher in the same
circumstances.

Mr. Mudrovich claims relative to Article 30
that his career will be stymied in the future. He has
no basis, in fact, for this claim. He has been given the same opportunity according to
Article 30 that
every other teacher has been given.

Mr. Mudrovich contends a hostile work
environment was created because his request for a
dedicated French room was not immediately granted and that the room eventually given was
not large
enough. A French room has been given to the French program. The room given was
previously
occupied by a Spanish teacher with numbers in classes similar to Mr. Mudrovich's 30, 18,
18, 21.

Mr. Mudrovich contends that a hostile work
environment was created by abusive, angry,
aggressive actions by Mr. Knaack, Dr. Dodd, and Mr. Sheehan. In the conference on
November 18,
1997, Mr. Mudrovich was asked to give specific words, actions, dates and times when this
behavior
was exhibited. He stated he had not experienced this kind of behavior from Dr. Dodd and
Mr. Sheehan, but he said on July 17, 1997, Mr. Knaack threw his arms in the air and
in a raised voice
said, "You aren't having that room. That is Jean Haverly's room." Mr. Mudrovich
admitted he was
also raising his voice during this conference.

Mr. Mudrovich contends that a hostile work
environment has been created through harassment.
Specifically, he cites that Mr. Knaack threatened a barrage of observations. When asked the
date,
time and manner in which Mr. Knaack did this, he cited Mr. Knaack's letter of August 27,
1997, in
which Mr. Knaack denies the request to change Mr. Mudrovich's supervisor. Mr.
Knaack states in
the letter, "Please be cognizant of the fact that although Mr. Sheehan is your primary
supervisor, that
Mrs. Solsrud, Mrs. Gilmore or myself may also on occasion observe you in your teaching
environment." Mr. Knaack included this statement not as a threat but as information about a
long-standing district practice. It is quite common that more than one observer participate in
the
supervision process in a given year.

In the November 18 conference, Dr. Dodd
asked Mr. Mudrovich if he had been asked to do
anything that any other teacher had not been asked to do. Had he been belittled, sworn at,
called
names, or anything similar by colleagues or administration? Mr. Mudrovich answered in the
negative
on all counts.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

When asked what the nature of the hostile
environment was and how he had been harassed, Mr.
Mudrovich said it was because he had not been given a room and he had been assigned Mr.
Sheehan
as his supervisor. He offered no other explanation. When asked if his perception of being
harassed
affected his ability to perform his job satisfactorily, he said yes. Mr. Mudrovich said he
thinks about
it all the time and even wakes up at night thinking about it. When asked if the learning of
children
was affected by his fears, Mr. Mudrovich said yes but added it would be hard to prove as
almost all
of them were getting an A or A -. Asked if he was getting professional help, he said "no."

Mr. Mudrovich asked that a formal hearing
be convened to determine whether the administrators
in questions were in violation of Wis. State Statute 134.01, "Injury to business;
restraint of will. Any
two or more persons who shall combine, associate, agree, mutually undertake or concert
together
for the purpose of willfully or maliciously injuring another in his or her reputation, trade,
business
or profession by any means whatever, or for the purpose of maliciously compelling another
to do
or perform any act against his or her will, or preventing or hindering another from doing or
performing any lawful act shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than
one
year or by fine not exceeding $500." Mr. Mudrovich was asked how the
administrators in question
willfully and maliciously injured him. Mr. Mudrovich's response was, "I don't know if it is
true."

Mr. Mudrovich contends that the
assignment of Mr. Sheehan as his supervisor is harassment.
In the November 18 conference, Mr. Mudrovich was asked if the observations and
conferences
conducted by Mr. Sheehan about the observations were professional, about learning, about
teaching,
and about the curriculum. To all of the questions, Mr. Mudrovich answered yes.

The administration assigned Mr. Sheehan to
Mr. Mudrovich because Mr. Sheehan had been his
primary supervisor during the previous year when Mr. Mudrovich was taking staff
development
related to the district's supervision and instruction model. Due to the coaching component of
the
effective instruction model, it has been the administrative practice that the same supervisor
(coach)
continue in the supervision process to ensure the application of the model in the classroom.

Mr. Mudrovich is claiming in his grievance
that his rights for equal opportunity of employment
have been violated. When asked if he had applied for any position other than the one he
currently
has, he said "no." When asked if he had been denied equal access to the selection process,
he said,
"No. Not yet, but I know I will be in the future." When asked if he knew the process the

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Dec. No. 29946-L

district used to select new employees or to
promote employees, he said, "No, not entirely."

Mr. Mudrovich contends he has not been
given a 100 percent contract because the French
program has been treated unfairly. He cites the dropping of French II at the high
school during the
1996-97 school year is evidence of this unfair treatment. It was pointed out to Mr.
Mudrovich that
when there is low enrollment in foreign language classes at the second level, the department
has
several choices depending upon various circumstances. A teacher can teach the class as a
sixth class,
students can go to the junior high to take the class, a teacher can teach French I and II as a
combined
class, or the class is dropped. It was also pointed out that during the same year Mr.
Mudrovich
contends French II was dropped to keep him at a less than 100 percent contract the following
classes
were also dropped: Sewing, Printing and Silk Screening, Auto Mechanics, and Principles of
Technology. Classes combined included: Business Procedures and Information Processing
III;
Apprenticeship I, II, and Technology Internship; Architectural Design and Advanced
Drafting.
Mr. Mudrovich asked if this had ever happened to another foreign language class. It
was pointed out
that German students had traveled to the Junior High for German II and many times in the
past Mr.
Ackermannn had taught six classes to keep a class. Additionally, since the grievance
conference on
November 18, Dr. Dodd has discovered that German II was dropped for the 1997-98 school
year as
none of the other options could be put into effect for that class. All classes with low
enrollment are
dropped in accordance with Board policy.

DECISION:

In summary, the grievance is denied
because:

1. Testimony and evidence
does not support the claim that a hostile work environment has been
created for Mr. Mudrovich. In his own testimony:

Mr. Mudrovich cites one
instance when Mr. Knaack raised his voice to him. He also cites
that he, too, was raising his voice during the conference.

Mr. Mudrovich self reports
that Mr. Sheehan has been very professional during the
supervision process.

Mr. Mudrovich reports that
Dr. Dodd and Mr. Sheehan have never been abusive to him.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Mr. Mudrovich said he does not know if
administrators have been willfully or maliciously
injurious to him.

2. Assignment of rooms and
supervisors are a necessary part of management's rights as
determined by contract and long-standing past practice.

3. Mr. Mudrovich has not been
denied equal opportunity for employment.

The French program has not
been treated differently from other foreign language programs
or subject areas within the school system when it comes to class size, teacher assignment,
dropping and combining classes, and the scheduling of students to classes.

Mr. Mudrovich was
approved for the .50 FTE French teacher position for the 1995-96 school
year at the regular board meeting on May 23, 1995. Mr. Mudrovich stated that he has not
applied for any other position in the district and that he has not been denied access to the
posting, application or selection process.

Mr. Mudrovich's time as a
teacher was increased from 65 percent in 1996-97 to 80 percent
during the current 1997-98 school year.

Mr. Mudrovich has not
incurred a financial loss.

4. The grievance was not filed in a timely manner.

Dodd did not deem it relevant to note in his response that, during
the Step 2 meeting, Complainant
requested and was denied a copy of the notes taken by Hazaert and Owens. Complainant
considered
Dodd's response to contain distortions and inaccuracies. Prior to the Step 3 hearing, the
Association
asked the administration if they would agree to have an Association staff attorney mediate the
grievance and the lawsuit against Soto and Martin. Dodd, who was present at the mediation
that was
scheduled in response to this request, concluded that Complainant, who was represented by
his
personal attorney, would not settle for less than the corrective action requested in the
grievance,
which corrective action Dodd considered to be outlandish. The mediation did not resolve the
grievance and, on January 19, 1998, the School Board held a hearing on the grievance of
October 29,
1997. Leonard was absent from this meeting. Complainant's attorney, Ryan Lister,
addressed the
School Board and various School Board members questioned Lister, Complainant and Dodd.
LaBarge was also present at this meeting. When Complainant asked for five minutes to read
a
statement, his request was granted. After twelve minutes, School Board President Fisher
informed
Complainant that he had heard enough and Complainant was not permitted to finish reading
his
statement. Complainant was permitted to submit a copy of his written statement to the
School Board.
This written statement includes the following:

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Dec. No. 29946-L

I am grateful that I now have the opportunity to address the Board
concerning the turmoil that
I have been put through by the three D.C. Everest administrators named in my grievance. I
want to
let you know that as a teacher, the last thing I ever wanted, or ever expected to be forced
into,
was
to have to file a personal
grievance against three of my bosses. I want you to understand that it was their actions, not
mine,
that have brought us all to this point.

No doubt, a picture has been painted for
you casting me in the role of a trouble-making teacher.
If you will now listen to what I have to say about all this, relying solely on the
facts of the whole
matter, you will see that that is not at all the case. You will see that I have conducted myself
in a
thoroughly professional manner.

At the time I was hired, in May 1995, I was
thrilled to get a job at D.C. Everest School District.
Everyone I knew told me that I was going to work for a very good district. I was told by
Larry
Baker that the French program here was then just ending its second year, but that it had
grown and
was expected to continue to grow. I worked hard my first year, putting in many extra hours.
All my
observation reports that year were favorable, as was my year-end evaluation, written by Bob
Knaack.

One thing that I did want to see changed,
however, was that there was no classroom dedicated
to the French program, despite the fact that there were at that time four dedicated Spanish
rooms,
and one for German.

Since at that time I got along very well with
all the other Foreign Language teachers - except for
my fellow French teacher Anne Berns, which I will address later - I thought I could discuss
the matter
with them and try to resolve it in a friendly manner. Twice during the 1995-96 school year I
raised
the issue of having a dedicated French room in Department meetings. Both times, this was
ignored.

But the Spanish teachers were certainly
trying to make sure that they didn't lose their dedicated
rooms. Toward the end of the 95-96 school year, in fact, they requested that Mike Sheehan
attend
one of our Department meetings so that they could impress upon him how important it was
to have
"little pieces of the target cultures" there in the Junior High. The reason they felt it
necessary to do
this was that the Junior High room assignments were going to undergo wholesale changes
during the
coming 1996-97 school year because of the introduction of 7th grade

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Dec. No. 29946-L

teaming and they didn't want the Foreign
Language Department to be shortchanged. Mike
obviously accepted their reasoning at that time, because the Foreign Language Department
kept all
5 of its rooms for the 1996-97 year.

At the beginning of the 1996-97 school
year, I tried to lay the groundwork for getting a French
room during the 1997-98 school year. The Spanish teachers had made it clear during the
previous
school year that they weren't going to volunteer to give over one of quote "their rooms"
unquote.
So I first went to see Mike Sheehan on October 18th, 1996, and asked him if it was too early
too (sic)
discuss room assignments for the 1997-98 school year. He responded that it was never too
early to
consider such matters. He suggested that I write a memo to my Foreign Language
Department
colleagues, laying out my arguments, and asking them to discuss the matter at the next
Department
meeting. This I did. I sent a memo to Corinne Solsrud, The Curriculum Coordinator, and
sent copies
to all my colleagues and to Mike Sheehan. Not a single person responded to that memo, and
it was
not discussed at either of the next two Foreign Language Department meetings.

So in January of 1997, I went back to Mike
Sheehan and told him that it was obvious that my
colleagues did not want there to be a dedicated French room. I further told Mike that I
found it
highly hypocritical of the Spanish teachers to put forth impassioned arguments about the
absolute
necessity of having four "little pieces of Spain", but that they were not prepared to have that
apply
to a "little piece of France". Mike agreed with me and told me that he would not allow the
Spanish
teachers to make that argument about Spanish if they weren't prepared to have the same line
of
reasoning apply to French. He strongly hinted to me that there would be a French room for
the 97-98
year, but he didn't actually commit to that. Two more times during the Winter and Spring
of last
year, I went back to Mike Sheehan to ask him if he had assigned rooms yet. Both times I
reminded
Mike of the arguments about "little pieces of Spain and France." Both times Mike told me
that he
would let me know as soon as he had made a decision. Finally, in May of 1997 I saw the
assignments
for the 1997-98 school year. French had now increased to
six sections for the 97-98 year, but these
sections were to be taught in five different classrooms, whereas Spanish still had their four
classrooms, and German, with 7 sections - only 5 of which could be taught in one given
room because
of scheduling conflicts, had their dedicated room. So I then went to Mike and very politely
asked him
why this was so.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Now, I don't know how I could
possibly have handled this matter more professionally
than I had
done. And there is no question that having a French
room was the correct thing to do. Even Dr.
Dodd later told me that what Bob Knaack and Mike Sheehan should have done was to tell the
Foreign Language Department, "There will be a
French room. Now you try to work out the details
among yourselves." One would think that at this point, Mike Sheehan would have assembled
the
Foreign Language Department and told them as much.

But Mike did not do that. Rather, he got in
touch with Corinne Solsrud. The result was that
Corinne called a May 28th Department meeting, which Mike did not attend. We were all
told at that
time by Corinne that we were to discuss the matter and arrive at a solution among ourselves.

Now this was a callous and highly cynical
way that Mike Sheehan chose to quote "resolve"
unquote this matter. Mike was completely shirking his responsibility to handle this
departmental
conflict in a fair and just manner. He just threw me to the wolves. He already
knew that the five
Spanish teachers would press their numerical superiority over the French program. With
twenty-plus
years of experience as an administrator, Mike also knew that his refusal to exercise
leadership and
do the right thing would necessarily lead to strife within the Foreign Language Department,
as surely
as crying out "fire" in a crowded theater would cause a panic. Yet that was how Mike chose
to
handle the matter. And needless to say, that May 28th Foreign Language
Department meeting was
characterized by harsh feelings on both sides of the table. Mike Sheehan is paid big bucks to
sit in
that chair and make fair decisions, even when those decisions might make some people
unhappy, yet
he chose to abuse me by throwing all that off onto my shoulders, which was very upsetting
to me
during that May 28th meeting. Now, if it was true that I was a trouble
maker, I would have
immediately filed a grievance or denounced Mike Sheehan to Bob Knaack or Dr. Dodd. But
that's
not what I did. I don't want to have strife with my colleagues and bosses anymore than
anyone else
does. What I did was to follow Corinne Solsrud's instructions to try to work this out among
ourselves. I wrote up a room-assignment proposal and distributed it to all of my colleagues,
specifically excluding Mike Sheehan and Bob Knaack,
so that Corinne Solsrud would not think that
I was disobeying her explicit instructions. It is absolutely clear that I was doing everything I
could
to remain as professional as possible, even though my Vice Principal was not.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Then things took a very malicious turn. Now, we are not here
today to resolve a legal dispute
between me and Shar Soto and Holly Martin, and I am not asking that you Board members
make any
kind of judgment about their actions. But there are some
undisputed factsabout what happened on
May 30th, 1997 that do have a direct bearing on what we are doing here today, and I
have every right
to inform you Board members how Mike Sheehan and Bob Knaack handled this matter.

On May 30th, the morning after I
distributed to my colleagues my

May 29th proposal for room assignments, I
received a summons to Bob Knaack's office. That
note said that he wanted to talk to me about my treatment of Carol Maki. I went to Bob's
office right
away. Bob told me that four teachers had come to him that same morning to
complain that I had
been verbally abusive to Carol Maki. I was stunned. When Bob explained that this had to do
with a
note that I had jokingly written to Carol two weeks previously, I was flabbergasted. The note
I had
written to Carol was indeed somewhat crude, but it was written as a joke and received that
way.
Carol and I bothlaughed about it in the upstairs
faculty lounge the next morning, as I explained to
Bob.

As an aside I will just say that Carol and I
had been friends since I started teaching at D.C.
Everest. We had spent much time together, with a small circle of other teachers in the
basement
lounge. As any teacher who has spent any time at all with that group in the basement lounge
will tell
you, the language down there often gets rather salty, including interpersonal comments and
conversations. If anybody wishes, I can refer to specific instances, but that would only
embarrass
Carol Maki and other teachers. As everyone knows, there are people and groups of people
that you
can talk with one way, whereas you would never dream of talking the same way in a group
of people
you don't know.

Yet somehow four teachers just
happenedto go to Bob Knaack during the same short
time span
in order to brand me as an abuser of a female subordinate. Yet Bob made it clear that Carol
Maki
herself did not want to make a complaint. And this was not a trivial matter. If I had indeed
abused
Carol, that would have been grounds for firing me, as those four teachers well knew. I
explained to
Bob Knaack that Carol and I were good friends, that my note to her was a joke, and that she
had
clearly taken it as such. After just about two minutes of this conversation with Bob, I asked
him if
any of these teachers would have been from the Foreign Language Department. Bob told me
that
that was not the case,

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Dec. No. 29946-L

and asked me why I would think that.
Now, Bob knew perfectlywell that we were having a
dispute about room assignments, yet he acted as if this was all news to him. And he knew
perfectlywell that Shar Soto and Holly Martin were two of the four teachers who had come
to him, yet he
denied it to me, and refused to acknowledge a connection between the room assignment
dispute and
the verbal abuse allegations, a connection that he knew
perfectlywell existed.

The first thing I did after I left Bob
Knaack's office was to go up to Carol Maki's room to discuss
this with her. I told her that I was extremely sorry if I had offended her two weeks earlier,
but that
I was confused why she had laughed about it with me the following day. Carol wouldn't
look me in
the eye, and it was clear to me that she didn't want to talk about it, so I apologized again
and left her
room.

Just outside Carol Maki's room, at the top
of the stairs, I ran into Shar Soto and Holly Martin.
I asked them point blank, "Can I assume that one of you two went to see Bob to complain
about me
abusing Carol?" Shar immediately responded, in a very self-satisfied way, "You can assume
we both
went to see Bob."

I then went back to Bob Knaack's office and
told him that I had found out from Shar and Holly
themselves that they were two of the four teachers who had come to him. I also told Bob
that I
wanted him to call a meeting with him and me, Shar and Holly, Carol Maki, and Bob
Coleman, so
that we could get to the bottom of their making these allegations. I told Bob that this was
the most
malicious thing that had ever been done to me, and that I wanted the truth to come out. Bob
told me
that he would think about it. Monday, June 2nd, I went to see Bob to ask him what he had
decided
about the meeting. He told me, "There's no way I'm going to call such a meeting. There
isn't a letter
in anybody's file now, but if I have such a meeting, there will end up being a letter in
someone's file,
and I don't want that." I pointed out that Shar and Holly had clearly made these allegations
in order
to get back at me because of the room assignment dispute. Bob responded, "I don't connect
the two
things."

I pointed out that it should be obvious to
anyone, by nothing other than the timing. This
alleged
abuse had occurred two weeks earlier, yet Carol Maki herself and these four teachers said
nothing
about it. But then, 36 hours after a heated meeting, all four of
them, but not Carol Maki, come to him
at the sametime to brand me as an abuser! Bob just answered
again, "I don't connect the two."

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Now, I would like you Board members to
put yourselves in my shoes at that point. I had spent
the last two years trying my best to be a good teacher, and indeed had had nothing but
favorable
observations, and two very favorable year-end evaluations. And I had tried to get the French
program to be treated on the same level as the Spanish program. Then I see that Mike
Sheehan
refused to do so, and Bob Knaack wouldn't even call a meeting to discuss four teachers
committing
the vilest act that has ever been done to me, all the while knowing full well
whythey had committed
that act.

What way is this to run a school? As
educators, we wouldn't tolerate actions such as Shar and
Holly committed by seventhgraders,
yet Bob and Mike not only tolerated it, they actually
rewardedShar and Holly by giving them exactly what
they had wanted, to the clear detriment of the French
program. When I asked Mike Sheehan, after it came out what Shar and Holly had done,
what he was
going to do about the room assignment matter, he responded very glibly that he would just
leave
room assignments the way he had originally done them, because in his words, "You felt that
the
Spanish teachers were just trying to throw you a bone [and by that he meant that they wanted
French to be taught in 3 different rooms versus 5], so I'll just leave things the way
they are."
I ask you Board members, just why was Mike placing the Spanish teachers in a position
where they
would be 'throwing mea bone'?
Is that how Mike views his role as an administrator?

Mike Sheehan later tried to deny that his
actions were unfair. On October 29th, 1997, in the first
grievance conference in Bob Knaack's office, Mike flatly denied that there is any competition
between
the three Foreign Language programs - Spanish, German, and French - and that quote "it is
unfortunate that George perceives that there is competition between the three languages"
unquote.
That statement of Mike's is ridiculous. Before French was instituted at D.C. Everest, there
were three
full-time German teachers at the Junior High. Now there is one.
That cannot be attributed to anything
but competition for students, a competition that, unfortunately for German
teachers, has hurt the
German program. That's the real world, and Mike knows it full well.

Mike Sheehan and others have also put forth
the argument that room assignment is primarily a
function of seniority. If this is true, then why was Nancy Autermann, a very senior teacher,
put in
the smallest room in her department during the 1997-98 school year? Nancy strongly

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Dec. No. 29946-L

protested that room assignment, yet it was
not changed. By the way, I want to make it perfectly
clear that Nancy has never talked to me about that problem, and does not know that I am
talking with
you about it. I know of it simply because it's common knowledge at the Junior High.

One would think that if I was a trouble
maker, I would have gone to denounce Bob Knaack and
Mike Sheehan to Dr. Dodd in early June, or that I would have filed a formal grievance. Yet
that is
not what I did. I went to Bob Coleman to ask him if the Union would get involved in a
dispute, not
against the District, but between several members. Bob Coleman said he would check into
it, and
informed me on June 3rd that he really just wanted me to drop the whole matter. He did tell
me,
however, that he had gone and talked to Shar and Holly, and that they had told him that they
"wish
they hadn't done it."

At that point, the first week of June, 1997,
I asked Mike Sheehan if his decision on room
assignments was final. He told me that he might change his mind, and that I should check
with him
during the week of June 16th. I went to see him on June 18th, and in a short meeting, he
told me that
he would indeed leave the French program in five separate rooms while the Spanish teachers
would
continue with their four dedicated rooms. I told Mike that I thought that was highly unfair,
and that
I would appeal to Bob Knaack if that was his final word. Mike answered, "You can do
whatever you
want, but it won't change anything." I went right over to Bob's office and made my appeal.
He also
turned me down, using many of the arguments he used later, on July 17th, which I have
documented
in Exhibit #7, my July 17th letter to Dr. Dodd. I again asked him how he could
reward Shar and
Holly for their act of maligning me in order to resolve our room dispute, and Bob just
repeated his
earlier statement, saying, "I don't connect the two." I told Bob that I thought he was being
unfair, and
that I would appeal to Dr. Dodd if that was his final word. Bob told me that I was free to
do
whatever I wanted.

That's when I went to Dr. Dodd. We met
in his office on Monday

June 23rd, 1997. Dan Hazaert was
also there as I related the problems I had had with both Mike
Sheehan and Bob Knaack. Dan told me that administrators were not allowed to discriminate
in
access to facilities. Dan pointed out that he himself would not make a decision on room
assignments, but that he would discuss the matter with Bob, and that Bob would later get
back with me.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Bob and I did meet in his office on July 17th, 1997. But the
night before, when we had a brief
phone conversation in order to set up the meeting, Bob made it clear to me that he still didn't
want
to give the French program its own room. He asked me, "What's your alternative?" I simply
answered, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."

The board should have access to a copy of
my contemporaneous notes of that July 17th meeting,
because I sent them in a letter to Dr. Dodd, and he assured me that he would keep that letter
on file.
I ask that you Board members read that letter at your convenience, because it provides a very
clear
picture of the hostility that Bob Knaack directed at me at that time. At this time I wish to
bring your
attention to just one small portion of that meeting, and that is the point where Bob Knaack
and I were
discussing exactly which room the French program would be assigned. I was making the
very
reasonable point that one of my sections had 31 kids in it, and that Room #11, the room he
had
originally proposed for French, would be a very tight fit for those 31 students. I told Bob
that I
wanted to see what kind of numbers the Spanish sections had. Bob responded that it didn't
make any
difference, because he had changed the French room to Room #10. I told Bob that I still
wanted to
see what kind of numbers were in the Spanish sections, because if French had such a big
section, it
ought to be in the biggest room. All of this was being discussed in a very even tone of
voice. But
Bob clearly did not want to show me those numbers, and I only found them out later. This
is how
he responded to me. He threw his arms in the air and yelledat me, "You're not getting Room 7! That
belongs to Jean Haverly!"

Now, I have been in many meetings with
bosses in my life. Some of these meetings involved
disagreements. But I had neverbeen
yelledat by a boss before. That was one of the most
unnerving
things I have ever experienced. Dr. Dodd has tried to play this down as Bob simply raising
his voice,
but he didn't "raise his voice." He yelledat me. I
can't believe that the D.C. Everest School Board
considers this to be acceptable management practice.

This bothered me enough that I felt that it
was absolutely necessary to appeal again to Dr. Dodd.
Bob Knaack's hostility toward me was now manifest, and I was seeking some sort of
protection from
retribution. Let me make it clear that I specifically asked in that July 17th letter to Dr.
Dodd that
there be a meeting to discuss how Bob had treated me. I told Dr. Dodd that I wanted Bob to
respond, and witnesses to be

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Dec. No. 29946-L

questioned as soon as possible. But Dr.
Dodd specifically turned down this request in a phone
conversation with me on July 29th.

Now, if I was a trouble maker, one would
think that I would have then filed a formal grievance
against Bob Knaack. But I didn't. I was
still trying to handle my problems with Bob Knaack
without
having to resort to the serious step of a formal grievance. I asked of Dr. Dodd that he
simply make
the decision that neither Mike Sheehan nor Bob Knaack be my primary supervisor for the
97-98
school year, nor any future years. Considering the fact that in any year four different people
could be
assigned as a given teacher's primary supervisor at the Junior High, and that it was certainly
reasonable to suspect that Mike and Bob might want to retaliate against me, this was a very
reasonable request. If Dr. Dodd had had any concern for my situation, he would have
granted this
request. But he didn't.

In fact, Dr. Dodd added to my turmoil. He
told me that the reasonBob Knaack later changed
our agreed-upon assignment to the French program from Room #10 to Room #11, the
smallest room
in the Foreign Language Department, was not that the Spanish teachers had objected to this,
as Bob
Knaack had told me. Rather it was that my fellow French teacher, Anne Berns, had objected
to it.
Dr. Dodd then went on do (sic) tell me of some very specific complaints that Anne had made
about
me. It is completely obvious that Anne had made these complaints to Bob Knaack, and that
Bob had
then discussed them with Dr. Dodd as if Anne's version of our problem was the undisputed
truth. The
unconscionable thing is that Bob Knaack had never informed me of Anne's comments before
he
passed them up to Dr. Dodd. If Bob had done me the justice and the simple common
courtesy of
discussing them with me, he would have found that Anne was not giving him a fair view of
the
situation. I'll point out just one undisputed fact that Bob would have found out, about the
way Anne
Berns has treated me. During the winter of the 1996-97 school term, Anne, on
six separate
occasions, put notices in my mail box of vacancies at other schools. These notices were all
unsigned.
When I finally asked Anne if she was the one who had put these in my mail box, she
admitted that she
had. I told her that it would have been a courteous thing to simply sign her name to them,
so that I
would know who they were from. Her response was that she didn't have the time to write
her name
on them. Does this sound like the actions of a teacher who has any desire whatsoever to get
along
with a colleague? There are other examples. Feel free to ask me about them later.

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But the point I was making was that my superintendent, Dr.
Dodd, told me in our July 29th
phone conversation, when I was appealing to him for protection from the actions of Bob
Knaack, that
I had, in his words, and I quote, "alienated many of my Foreign Language colleagues."
Where would
Dr. Dodd have gotten this viewpoint from, if not from Bob Knaack? Perhaps Dr. Dodd was
not
aware that I had shared a classroom with three of my Foreign Language colleagues, Brent
Brye and
Holly Martin in their Spanish rooms, and Bob Jones in his German room, during the 1995-96
school
year. None of these three ever talked with Bob or anyone else about problems with me,
because there
werenone. I even repeatedly subbed for Shar Soto
during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years at
her request. Additionally, I subbed at least 80 times for
other teachers during the 1995-96 school
year, and at least 30 times during the 96-97 school year. And, I shared homeroom duty with
Bev
Preussing during the 95-96 year, I shared homeroom duty with Paul Zopel and Laurie Smith
during
the 96-97 school year, and shared classrooms with Bob Jones, Tom Gustafson, Christian
Ammon,
and Marla Day during the 1996-97 school year. If I was the type of teacher who "alienates"
other
teachers, wouldn't Bob Knaack had received at least onecomplaint about me during that time?

It was clear to me at this point that the
hostility from Bob Knaack and Mike Sheehan was not
going to disappear, and that Dr. Dodd's earlier assurances that he would protect me against
future
unfair actions by them meant nothing. On August 8th, 1997, at 11:40 AM, I went to the
Junior High
to inform Mike Sheehan, and ask Mike to inform Bob Knaack, that I was planning to ask the
Board
to invoke a disciplinary hearing against the two of them for the extremely unfair way that
they had
treated me in this whole affair. I can only assume that Mike did indeed inform Bob of that
information. On August 26th, I was informed that Mike Sheehan had indeed been assigned
by Bob
Knaack as my primary supervisor. It was clear that their attitude to me was simply, "We'll
show
him." Nevertheless, I went to Mike and asked him to arrange to have someone else be my
primary
supervisor. His response was, "No, I'm not going to give you that gift."

Now, you Board members may well ask
yourselves why I would be so worried about having
Mike Sheehan as my primary supervisor. You probably are not aware of this, but on at least
one
occasion, a female teacher has left a post-observation conference with Mike in tears. If, as
Mike, Bob
Knaack, and Dr. Dodd insist, the sole function of a primary supervisor is to help a
given

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Dec. No. 29946-L

teacher "grow in their career", how to (sic)
they explain a teacher crying in one of these sessions?
I am just as worried about being subjected to that type of intimidation as any female teacher.
When
I read the patronizing memos from the three administrators against whom I have brought this
grievance, in which they completely belittled my justifiable concerns and told me how
lucky I was to
have Mike as a primary supervisor, I saw that these three administrators had no regard for
my feelings
as a teacher, and my rights as an employee of D.C. Everest School District.

And that is when, after all the turmoil and
sleepless nights I had been subjected to, that is when
I filed this grievance. I hope you board members can put yourselves in my shoes. It is
highly
uncomfortable for me to come to work each morning knowing that my bosses are hostile to
me, and
that the reason they are hostile to me is simply that I stood my ground for what is right.

Finally, I would like you to think of my
students. I trust that the Board is not in favor of students
being taught by someone who has unjustly been put in fear of his job.

The "Minutes" of this School Board meeting indicate that School Board members were
told by Dodd
that a principal, assistant principal or curriculum coordinator serve as the primary supervisor
for all
teachers and by Knaack that no teacher at the Junior High selects his/her supervisor; and that
Complainant acknowledged that he was not being treated unfairly by Knaack during the
1997-98
school year. These "Minutes" also contain the following:

Lister said at the level two response, Hazaert told Knaack could
not discriminate in the
assignment of classrooms. Lister said it was unfair for Knaack to yell at Mudrovich and it
was
unreasonable for Knaack to tell Mudrovich he would call parents and tell them their children
could
not take French. He said that this would have a direct impact on Mudrovich's income. He
said it was
hard to (sic) Mudrovich to file a grievance against his bosses and that it had a chilling affect
on his
career. Lister said all of this has created a hostile work environment.

Lister said Mudrovich's statements were
distorted in the grievance answers. He said he had nine
pages of omissions. He said this was a personal grievance and not a policy grievance. He
questioned
why the superintendent replied to the grievance when he was part of it. He said it was a
personal
grievance against Knaack, Sheehan and Dodd.

After Complainant and Lister indicated that they had nothing more to say, the School
Board went into
closed session at approximately 8:49 p.m., voted to deny the grievance and, at

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Dec. No. 29946-L

8:55 p.m., adjourned the meeting. Although not reflected in the "Minutes,"
Dodd told Complainant
that the allegation that Dodd and Knaack may have violated Sec. 134.01, Stats., was a very
serious
allegation; stated that he was very unhappy about Complainant having raised such an
allegation and
appeared to be upset over this allegation. At times during the meeting, District
representatives
appeared to be impatient when they addressed Complainant and, in LaBarge's opinion, some
statements made to Complainant and Complainant's attorney were a bit insulting. The
demeanor of
the School Board members, as well as their questions, left Complainant with the impression
that the
School Board members were not interested in the facts, but simply wanted to support their
administrators. The School Board's attorney, Ronald Rutlin, provided the School Board's
written
response in a letter to Lister dated January 20, 1998, which letter includes the following:

. . . At the conclusion of the Step 3 grievance meeting on
Monday, January 19, 1998, the Board
voted unanimously to deny the grievance. The reasons for the Board's denial of the
grievance include
the following:

1. Many of the issues
presented are not grievances as defined by the collective
bargaining agreement.

2. No evidence was
presented that establishes a violation of Article 2, Article 30, or any
other section of the collective bargaining agreement.

3. The grievance was
not timely filed since it was not filed within ten (10) working days
after the cause of the grievance was known or should have been known by Mr.
Mudrovich

The DCETA files and processes grievances that may not be arbitrable in order to call
the Board's
attention to an issue that the DCETA would like to have resolved. After the School Board
denied
the October 29, 1997 grievance, the DCETA's representative assembly discussed the
grievance and
decided to not appeal the grievance to arbitration. In making the decision to not appeal the
grievance
to arbitration, the DCETA considered the following: that Complainant had not been injured
in that
he had received a French room, as he had requested; that there was an issue as to whether or
not the
grievance was timely; the remedy requested in the grievance was problematic; and it was
unlikely that
a grievance arbitrator would rule in favor of Complainant.

10. On January 20, 1998, Knaack assigned Complainant to be in the IMC study hall
every
day. Knaack made this assignment because Complainant had a small assignment and Shirley
Bjorklund, the teacher assigned to this IMC study hall, was having difficulty with this study
hall. On
January 22, 1998, Knaack issued the following memo:

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Dec. No. 29946-L

TO: IMC SUPERVISORS

FROM: ROBERT C. KNAACK,
PRINCIPAL

SUBJECT: IMC SUPERVISION

DATE: January 22, 1998

There appears to be some confusion
regarding staying at your assigned IMC duty for the entire
period. It is our intent that IMC Supervisors remain in the IMC throughout the entire period
and not
share this assignment. If you feel that two supervisors are not needed in the IMC, we could
find a
substitute duty for the IMC assignment.

Thanks for your efforts on behalf of kids.

Knaack issued the January 22, 1998 memo in response to Bjorklund's complaint that
Complainant
was not in the study hall at all times and to remind all IMC supervisors of what was
expected of IMC
study hall supervisors. Knaack also responded to Bjorklund's complaint by issuing a
handwritten
note to Knaack and Bjorklund reminding each that they must be in the study hall at all times.
On one
occasion, Complainant told Knaack that Complainant did not like being supervised by
Bjorklund.
Knaack did not agree with Complainant's assertion that Bjorklund was supervising him. In
March
of 1998, the District renewed Complainant's 80% teaching contract for the 1998-1999 school
year.
On or about March 10, 1998, Complainant returned his signed contract to the Junior High
Office and
asked the secretary to give him a receipt for this signed contract. In Complainant's opinion,
the
secretary appeared reluctant to do so. Knaack and Sheehan then asked Complainant to come
into
their office; asked what Complainant wanted; Knaack told Complainant that it was not the
secretary's
job to sign such a receipt; Knaack and Sheehan refused to sign such a receipt; and Knaack
indicated
that, if Complainant were concerned, then Complainant could take the contract to the central
office
himself. In Complainant's opinion, Knaack was angry and the only reason for this anger was
that
Complainant had filed a grievance against Knaack. In April 1998, Lister deposed Sheehan
and
Knaack in the lawsuit against Soto and Martin. In Complainant's opinion, neither was
particularly
happy about being deposed.

11. On or about May 14, 1998, a "Master Class List" for the 1998-99 school year
was
posted at the District's Junior High. Sheehan prepared this "Master Class List" with the
assistance
of his secretary, Vicki LaPorte. As a general rule, building administrators, rather than the
District
Administrator, schedule class assignments. Prior to the time that Sheehan printed this Master
Class
List, Sheehan and Knaack had discussed staffing, but had not decided to assign Complainant
to teach
an additional section of French. Under the normal practices of the District, the "Master
Class List"
that is prepared in the spring of the year is not a final schedule for the ensuing year, but
rather is
subject to change. Consistent with this normal practice, the cover page of the posted
1998-99
"Master Class List" contained a note from

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Sheehan that states: "I'm sure there will be some changes before August, especially to
class sizes, but
for the most part here is next year's schedule. If you detect a problem where you're
scheduled to be
in two places at one time etc. please let me know about it ASAP." On or about May 15,
1998,
Complainant reviewed this "Master Class List" and observed that he had been assigned five
sections
of French, rather than the four that were reflected in his 1998-99 contract. Complainant
went to
Sheehan and said "I see that I am scheduled for five sections of French" and Sheehan
responded
"That is correct." When Complainant stated that he appreciated the additional section, but
that his
contract was for 80%, Sheehan indicated that he did not know that and would look into the
matter.
Sheehan assigned the extra section of French to Complainant because Sheehan needed to
assign
someone to this section in order to run the computer program and not because he, or any
other
District administrator, had decided that Complainant would be teaching an extra section of
French
for the ensuring school year. Given the fact that the Junior High had the available FTE,
Sheehan and
Knaack had authority to assign the extra section of French to Complainant, subject to the
School
Board's authorization to increase Complainant's contract to 100% FTE. Complainant's
conversation
with Sheehan was on a Friday. The following Monday, May 18, 1998, Knaack asked
Complainant
if he would like to be a 100% FTE teacher and Complainant responded yes. Knaack then
asked
Complainant to put that in writing. Knaack asked if Complainant would be interested in
becoming
a 100% FTE teacher because, in his experience, not all part-time teachers wanted to be
full-time
teachers. Complainant followed-up this conversation with a written response on May 18,
1998,
which includes the following:

Re: Moving up from an 80% position to a 100% position as
French teacher

Dear Bob,

In response to your verbal inquiry today
whether I'd be interested in a full-time (i.e. 100%
FTE) position, the answer is definitely "yes".

At the time that Knaack received this response, Knaack was not willing to increase
Complainant to
100% FTE because Knaack did not approve of Complainant's relationship with Berns;
Knaack
considered Complainant's lawsuit against Soto and Martin to have negatively affected the
atmosphere
in the Junior High School Building; and Knaack was uncertain as to whether or not Berns
would be
available to teach the extra section. Knaack's opinion regarding the atmosphere in the Junior
High
was not based on conversations with any teacher, but rather, was based upon his belief that
teachers
in the Junior High School Building were unnaturally quiet. In Knaack's opinion, the
unnatural quiet
was due to the fact that Complainant's colleagues were concerned that they would be sued if
they
said something inappropriate. In early to mid-May, 1998, Dodd, Knaack, and Sheehan met
to discuss
a number of administrative and staffing issues. Complainant's grievance was not discussed at

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this meeting. D.C. Everest Senior High School Principal Tom Johansen may have
been at this
meeting. At the meeting, Dodd and Knaack discussed whether to make Complainant a 100%
FTE
teacher. Although Dodd previously gave consideration to the fact that increased enrollments
would
probably necessitate a 100% FTE French position, this was the first time that Dodd had
addressed
the possibility of making Complainant a 100% FTE teacher. Knaack indicated that he was
thinking
of making Complainant a 100% FTE teacher, but that he had some reservations based on
Complainant's relationship with Berns and the lawsuit that he had filed against Soto and
Martin. At
this meeting, Dodd told Knaack that the decision to raise or to not raise Complainant to a
100%
position was Knaack's decision to make, but that if Knaack did not raise Complainant to a
100% FTE
teacher, then Complainant would probably file a prohibited practice suit, or take some type
of legal
action, because Complainant had previously claimed that the administrators were going to
retaliate
against him. Dodd's subsequent knowledge of the May 18, 1998 conversation between
Knaack and
Complainant lead Dodd to conclude that, on May 18, 1998, Knaack was willing to offer
Complainant
a 100% position despite having reservations about Complainant. On May 18, 1998, Dodd
had
reservations about Complainant because Complainant had demonstrated that he was obstinate;
not
a team player; and would do almost anything in his power to get his own way. Dodd's
reservations
were due to Complainant's note to Maki; Complainant's lawsuit against Soto and Martin and
Complainant's attempts to obtain a dedicated French room. With respect to the latter
conduct, Dodd
was influenced by the fact that Complainant wanted his own room when more senior teachers
had
to share; that Complainant asked Dodd to intervene rather than working the issue out within
his own
Department; and that, when Dodd intervened and Knaack provided Complainant with a
French room,
Complainant was not satisfied with the room that had been provided to him. Complainant's
suit
against Soto and Martin, as well as Complainant's letters recounting Complainant's view of
the Soto
and Martin situation, lead Dodd to conclude that Complainant had not handled the situation
reasonably. Dodd, who did not know whether or not Complainant and Maki were friends,
did not
consider the note to Maki to involve friendly banter. At the time of the staffing meeting,
Dodd
balanced these reservations regarding Complainant against his opinion that Complainant's
classroom
performance was acceptable and concluded that Complainant was entitled to the benefit of
any doubt
regarding increasing Complainant to a 100% position. At the staffing meeting, Knaack did
not yet
know whether or not Berns was available to teach the extra French section and did not tell
Dodd that
he would offer Complainant the 100% position. On or about May 22, 1998, Complainant
asked
Knaack about his 100% FTE contract and Knaack indicated that he was still looking into the
matter.

12. On May 27, 1998, Complainant ran an errand when he was supposed to be
supervising
his IMC study hall. Sheehan, who happened upon Complainant in a hallway, told
Complainant that
he needed to be in his IMC study hall. Sheehan also told Complainant that there was a
substitute in
the study hall and that Sheehan did not like to have the substitute handle the study hall by
herself.
Complainant said "OK" and returned to his study hall. Complainant understood that Sheehan
was
returning Complainant to his study hall because

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there was a substitute teacher in the study hall. At the beginning of the day on May
28, 1998,
Complainant went to Knaack and asked about Complainant's teaching contract. Knaack told
Complainant that he wanted to see Complainant. Complainant responded "What about now?"
in a
manner that Knaack considered to be very loud and very negative. Recalling that Sheehan
had
recently reminded Complainant of the need for Complainant to be in his study hall, Knaack
responded
that Complainant needed to be in his study hall. Knaack documented the "What about now?"
statement because of the way that Complainant was reacting. Shortly after noon on May 28,
1998,
Complainant was scheduled to be in the IMC study hall with Bjorklund. Instead,
Complainant was
at the counter in the main office of the Junior High depositing money for a French Club trip.
Sheehan
walked up to Complainant; confirmed that Complainant was supposed to be in the IMC; and
told
Complainant to return to the IMC. Complainant, believing that on May 27 Sheehan had
indicated
that Complainant should not leave the study hall when there was a substitute teacher,
responded that
Shirley Bjorklund was in there. Sheehan indicated that it was a two-person study hall and
that
Complainant and Shirley were both needed there. Complainant responded that he was just
going to
take a minute to deposit the money. In Complainant's opinion, Complainant was not
refusing to
return to the study hall, but rather, was agreeing to do it as soon as he finished depositing
the money.
At this point, Complainant concluded that Sheehan was acting in a rude and imperious
manner, rather
than in the collegial manner that Sheehan had exhibited on May 27. Complainant then told
Sheehan
that Complainant and Shirley occasionally leave for a couple minutes at a time. Sheehan
then told
Complainant "You need to go back to your study hall now, I don't have time to discuss
this."
Complainant, who considered Sheehan to have become cold and more military like, became
angry.
Complainant thought Sheehan was acting inappropriately by treating him like a
7th Grade Student in
front of staff and students. Complainant asked if Sheehan enforced the rule so closely with
all the
other IMC supervisors because Knaack had issued a memo at the beginning of the semester
that all
IMC supervisors must be in the IMC at all times. Sheehan responded even more sternly
"I'm not
going to discuss this with you. Go back to the Study Hall now." When Complainant
responded by
inquiring if Sheehan was going to treat him differently from other teachers, Sheehan told
Complainant
to go to his study hall now. As Complainant left the office, he told Sheehan "I'll show you
the
memo." The referenced memo was the January 22, 1998 memo from Knaack to IMC
supervisors.
Complainant, who considered Sheehan's manner to be hostile and demeaning, returned to his
study
hall. Prior to this time, Complainant had made a number of trips to the office at times when
he was
supposed to be in the IMC study hall and had not been told to return to his study hall. Less
than
fifteen minutes after leaving the office, Complainant wrote a three-page account of his
conversation
with Sheehan. For approximately eight years prior to leaving her employment with the
District in
June of 1998, Vicki LaPorte worked as a secretary in the main office of the Junior High and
was
supervised by Sheehan. Sheehan, Gilmore, and Knaack have offices adjacent to the main
office. As
a normal part of her duties, LaPorte documented the behavior of students who lost control in
the
office in case she was later asked for an account of the student's conduct. LaPorte, who
observed
the May 28, 1998

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Dec. No. 29946-L

exchange between Sheehan and Complainant, considered Sheehan to have acted
respectful toward
Complainant. LaPorte considered Complainant's interaction with Sheehan to be unusual
because,
in her experience, a teacher who received an instruction from Sheehan generally followed
that
instruction and, if the teacher disagreed with the instruction, the teacher would come back
later to
discuss it with Sheehan. LaPorte did not document this encounter between Sheehan and
Complainant. Shortly after the encounter with Complainant, Sheehan wrote a note to
Knaack, on
a student referral form that stated, inter alia, that:

. . . As you overheard, I again (second time) told Mr. Mudrovich
that he needed to be in his study
hall. He insisted upon arguing that it was OK since

Mrs. Bjorklund was there ­ I told
him to return to study hall ­ he made a couple of comments
about treating him differently . . .

At the end of the school day on May 28, 1998, Complainant went to Knaack's office to
ask about
the extra French section; Knaack responded that he did not think that Complainant was
professional
enough to deserve an increase in his contract; and indicated that he may have to post at 20%
to see
if the District could find somebody else. Complainant, who believed
that such a posting would be
contrary to past practice, considered Knaack to be threatening Complainant. Complainant
told
Knaack that, if Knaack did not give him the extra French section, then Knaack would be in
trouble.
Complainant did not intend to communicate that he would do something violent.
Complainant then
described his earlier encounter with Sheehan. During the ensuing conversation, Complainant
told
Knaack that Sheehan was treating Complainant unfairly, rudely and different from the way
other IMC
study hall teachers were being treated and that Knaack had previously told Complainant that
Complainant could leave the IMC study hall for a minute or two. Knaack discussed that
Complainant's IMC study hall was a particularly difficult study hall. Complainant stated that
Complainant knew that teachers that had been assigned two to a study hall had been
switching off
every day and asked if Knaack knew this. Knaack responded no and asked, if Complainant
knew this,
why had Complainant not discussed this with Knaack. Complainant responded that it was
not
Complainant's job to police other teachers and enforce Knaack's memo. Complainant told
Knaack
that he wanted an apology from Sheehan and that if Sheehan did not apologize, then
Complainant was
going to file a grievance. Knaack considered Complainant's complaint against the study hall
teachers
to be similar to the complaint made by Soto and Martin, i.e., that a teacher is
not following
appropriate educational expectations. Shortly after Complainant left Knaack's office,
Complainant
wrote an account of his meeting with Knaack, which states as follows:

Thurs. May 28 3:30 PM

I was just in the office to talk to Bob
Knaack about 2 things.

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#1) I enquired about whether there'd be an
extra section for me to teach next year, as was
indicated in the master course listing. He told me that he had to think about whether I was
going to
be professional enough to deserve that raise, and that he wasn't sure that I was. He thought
he might
just hire someone at 20% FTE to fill that slot, he said. I asked if there was indeed an extra
slot
opening, in other words, was Anne Berns scheduled tocome down
from the High School to teach
one class or two. [If she teaches only 1 here next year, that means that, according to the
master
schedule, there'd be 5 sections to be taught by me (or someone else, according to Bob),
which is
100% FTE. Bob replied that he didn't know how many classes Anne would teach. I told
him that
I'd appreciate it if he'd find out soon.

Then we moved to:

#2): I handed Bob my contemporaneous
notes of an episode that took place earlier today.
(My notes label it as: Thurday, May 28, 1998, 12:15 PM) Bob read through it. Then he
told me that
that memo had been sent to all IMC teachers. I told Bob that I was aware of
that, but that as far as
I could see, he wasn't enforcing that rule for all the other 2-person IMC
supervision teams, and that
every time I walked past 2nd period IMC this semester, I've seen either
Rich Pietsch, or Kris Heller,
but not both of them. Bob replied he wasn't going to go around to check on teachers to
seeif they
were following his rule. I told him again that I know that Kris and Rich are
splitting that IMC duty,
and have done so all semester. He asked me why I didn't come and tell him that. I replied
that it was
not my job to enforce his rules. But I told him that if I had decided not to come
to IMC every other
day, he sure would have found out in a hurry. He agreed, saying that Shirley Bjorklund
would have
come and told him.

At one point in this conversation Bob
raised his voice, jammed his index finger down onto the
desk and told me that I was just being treated like anyone else. I replied that I wasn't,
because Mike
had talked to me in a rude and hostile manner, and that I didn't appreciate it, and that I
doubted
seriously if any of the other IMC supervisors had been talked to that way, or that they (Bob
& Mike)
even bothered to check up on whether these other IMC supervisors were indeed in the IMC
at all
times. [Incidentally, at the very beginning of the semester, Shirley Bjorklund got very huffy
to me
when I stepped up to the photocopy room for a few minutes to make some copies. She
talked to me
as if I was a 7th-grade student, harshly pointing both index fingers at the
ground in the IMC, telling
me (in front of the students) "No, this is where you need to stay." I told
Shirley that shewas not my
supervisor, and that she ought not to be talking to me as if she was. I went to Bob Knaack
the next
day, told him of

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Shirley's behavior, told Bob I didn't
appreciate it, and asked that he have a meeting w/ himself,
me, and Shirley. He said "Wait a day, and see if it improves." He then obviously did talk
to Shirley
about it, because she didn't repeat that behavior.] Bob said that he wasn't going to go
around and
check up on people. So I replied, "But you were darn sure going to check up on
me."

We discussed this back & forth for a
couple minutes, rather confrontationally, and I saw that
he didn't believe that Mike's behavior toward me was improper. So I just said, "Look, I
want an
apology from Mike over the way he talked to me in such a hostile and demeaning manner, or
I'm
going to file a grievance on this."

Bob then got hostile himself some more.
He said "When are you going to start behaving like
a professional? You always take everything so personal, and you're losing the respect of
your
colleagues. All this stuff you keep going on about should have been forgotten a long time
ago, and
your keeping on about it isn't helping your respect w/ your colleagues, it's hurting it. You
need to
stop thinking that it's George here, and everyone against you over there.

Then I told Bob that that situation was the
direct result of how he and Mike has managed their
jobs. I said, "During the [April 18th] depositions [in the Mudrovich vs.
Soto et al case] it became very
clear to me how you too two were determined to treat French one way,
vs. Spanish another way.
I found out that Mike had talked to Shar & Holly all year long about room
assignments, while he was
telling me at the same time, "I'll make sure you're treated fairly." Mike tried to pretend as
if he just
found out at the end of the year that there was a problem about room assignments, but he
knew about
it all along. So what did he do? He just threw me to the wolves."

Bob then repeated that I made too big a
deal about it, and that it shouldhave been settled
before it went too far. I replied, "I came to you right away to ask you to settle
it right here in the
school, but you refused." Bob replied, "I didn't have a meeting on it, because I felt that
everyone
who would just end up losing if I did."

I replied, "Sure, I'm sitting
there as the only loser in the deal, and you weren't willing to set
that right."

We exchanged some more confrontational
words, then I told him, "I want you to understand
that if there is an extra slot open for French next year and you don't give it to me, you're
going to
have some trouble on your hands.

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Bob replied, "I don't have to give you an extra
section." Then I replied, "This is just like the
other deal. You're not treating me like other teachers. I don't know of any teachers who
have been
at 60%, 70% or 80% who were told that they had to write a letter requesting a
bump up to 100% if
there were sections available, and that you asking me to do this shows that you aren't
treatingme the
same as other teachers."

Bob asked me to name just one example of him not treating
me
fairly this school year. I told
him that one example was when he switched me from an every-other-day duty first semester
to this
every day duty 2nd semester.

Bob replied that he needed an extra person
in the 6th period IMC Study Hall because it was
so rowdy first semester, and he needed it to be improved. I replied that I didn't have a
problem with
that expect (sic) that he was singling me out as the only one to be switched to an every-day
duty, and
that he only issued his memo that all IMC supervisors had to be there
all the time after I had
complained to him that Shirley Bjorklund was acting as if she was my supervisor and that
that (sic)
made me look like the bad guy to all the other teachers who do IMC supervision
[In fact, Rich Pietsch
came up to me at the time to give me a hard time about that.] And I also said again that I
didn't
appreciate being put under watch by Shirley Bjorklund, while Bob & Mike themselves
didn't even
bother to check all semester long if the other IMC supervisors were following
his new rule. I
repeated again that every time I walked past 2nd-pd IMC, either Pietsch or
Heller was there, but never
together. Bob did tell me that he had had to have a talk with both of these two
just a few days earlier,
because they had both left early, and had left the supervision up to aide Jamie
Brown (or perhaps Val
Duerkop)

Then Bob started in on me that he didn't
think I was doing a good job, because I have been
sending lots of kids up to the office and, in Bob's words, "Once you send a kid to the office,
they lose
all respect for you, and you won't be able to control them." I replied, "If you want to get an
opinion
of whether that IMC study hall has improved since I got in there, just ask Donna Stieber
[who has
told me as much numerous times]. Bob just blew that off.

The meeting ended by me just saying,
"OK, I'm just going to let you know again that if
there's a French slot that opens up & you don't give it to me, you're going to have
trouble on your
hands. And I want an apology from Mike Sheehan about the way he dealt with me, or I'm
going to
file a grievance tomorrow."

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Bob said, "I'd never tell Mike Sheehan that he has to
apologize
to anyone."

I said, "Fine, you'll have my grievance
tomorrow." Then I left.

Addendum: Earlier Bob said that not all
IMC supervision duties are done by

2-person teams. I asked him how many,
other than 2nd period, were done by

2-person teams [I actually asked him this
twice during the meeting today. Both times he replied
that he didn't know.]

Knaack's notes of this encounter state as follows:

George Mudrovich came in at the end of the school day
questioning the actions of Mr. Sheehan,
who had directed him back to his study hall in the IMC as per a directive from Mr. Knaack
earlier in
the school year.

During that conversation, Mr. Mudrovich
said that people in the second period study hall
(Richard Pietsch and Chris Heller) don't stay in their duties all of the time. This is just an
indication
of the same type of thing that Mr. Mudrovich blamed two teachers previously for and
brought a law-suite (sic) against them. (Telling principal about a concern) Therefore, this
shows that in the teaching
profession that there are occasions that teachers do bring it to the attention of the principal
that other
colleagues are not following what they consider being appropriate educational expectations.

In addition, Mr. Mudrovich said that if he
does not get the full time job that I could expect a
grievance.

As Mr. Mudrovich left, he also told me that
if I didn't have Mr. Sheehan give him an apology by
the beginning of the day on May 29, 1998, that he would be filing a grievance.

Since then, he asked Mrs. Boon for six
grievance forms.

13. At approximately 9:00 a.m. on May 29, 1998,
Complainant hit the office door with
his hand loudly enough to catch the attention of LaPorte and entered the Junior High office.
At the
time, Sheehan was with a student and there were other students in the office area. Within
five
minutes of this encounter, LaPorte wrote a note that indicates that Complainant aggressively
entered
the office; loudly asked Sheehan if he had gone to the IMC to check on Heller and Pietsch;
when
Sheehan responded "No," Complainant demanded, quite loudly, "Why not;?" Sheehan
responded that
he had not had time; Complainant queried "Don't

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you go in there every hour and check on the other supervisors? Or is it just me?;" and
that when
Sheehan walked away without responding that Complainant said "I see ­ it's just me."
LaPorte had
not previously documented the conduct of a teacher. LaPorte's note was not solicited by
anyone.
At approximately 10:41 a.m. on May 29, 1998, Complainant wrote a two-page account of
his
conversation with Sheehan, which includes the following:

This morning during second period I saw Mike Sheehan
slowly
walking down the hall from
his office toward the north doors, then he disappeared around the corner. This journey had
brought
him right past the IMC, whose doors were open.

At about 9:02, I entered the office. Mike
was finishing up talking to Dan Conklin in his office.
When he came out, while he was walking over to Vicki LaPorte, I asked him, "Did you
check to see
if both Heller and Pietsch are supervising in the IMC this morning?" Mike ignored me, and
talked
to Vicki for 5 or ten seconds. When he was done, I repeated the same question. Mike just
answered,
"Nah". I said, "Why not? You went out of your way to enforce that rule with
me yesterday? Why
not with them?" Mike: "It wasn't important to me." Me: "You go out of
your way to talk to me
yesterday about it, and then the very next day you don't see if
other teachers are breaking your rule?"
Mike: "I haven't gotten around to it." [Note: I had just seen him
slowly walking past their open
door. You can see from the hallway that just Kris Heller was there!]

Me: "So, you're going to make sure you
enforce your rules with me, but you don't even care if
the other teachers follow that same rule."

Mike refused to reply. So I said one more
time, "So that rule is to be enforced just for me, and
you don't care if the other teachers follow it. Nice rules." Then I left.

Following the meeting of May 28, 1998 and his receipt of Complainant's complaint
that other IMC
study hall supervisors were not in their assignments, Knaack talked to Pietsch, Heller, Baxter
and one
other teacher regarding Complainant's complaint. All denied that they were out of their
study halls
as claimed by Complainant. Complainant, who was disturbed by the fact that Knaack had
indicated
that Complainant was not professional enough to deserve an increased contract, met with
Union
Representative Carol Gums Tuszka. In the afternoon of May 29, 1998, Complainant met
with
Knaack, Tuszka and Sheehan. During this meeting, Complainant asked a series of prepared
questions and made notes of these responses. These notes indicate that many of the
questions and
responses centered on supervision in the IMC study hall. These notes also indicate that, in
response
to questions from Complainant, Knaack

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confirmed: that, on May 28, he had told Complainant that there may be an extra
section of French,
but that Knaack did not know if that section would be open; that he had not made a
determination
to recommend Complainant for this French section; that the French section would be posted
about
June 2; that some of Complainant's actions are unprofessional; and that Knaack denied
saying that
he had not yet decided whether he would recommend Complainant for that slot for the reason
that
he thought Complainant was not being professional. Shortly after this meeting, Complainant
made
notes that indicate, inter alia, that, at about 2:50 p.m. on that day,
Complainant asked Knaack if he
and Tuszka could meet with Knaack; Knaack responded sure, if he could get someone else to
sit in;
subsequently, Knaack came into his office and stated that Sheehan would be joining them;
after
Sheehan had joined them, Complainant asked Knaack if Complainant could ask a few
questions about
the meeting that he and Knaack had after school on the previous day; Sheehan responded that
they
were not going to have a question and answer session; Complainant responded that he wanted
to be
clear about what Knaack had told him; Knaack told Sheehan to let Complainant ask his
questions,
but that he wanted a copy of what Complainant wrote down; Complainant asked five or six
questions
and, when Complainant began to ask another question, Sheehan indicated that two or three
questions
ago Complainant had said that he had only one more question and that Sheehan had things to
do and
could not stay there all day; Complainant responded that his questions would only take a few
more
minutes; Knaack indicated that Complainant could ask his questions; when Complainant was
finished
asking his questions, Knaack asked why Complainant asked his questions and Complainant
responded
"You'll find out next week." Knaack did not consider this meeting to be confrontational and
Knaack
interpreted the remark "You'll find out next week" to be a possible reference to a grievance.

14. On Monday, June 1, 1998, Complainant went into the office and had a
conversation
with Sheehan. On June 7, 1998, Complainant wrote a one-page document recounting his
June 1st
conversation with Sheehan. This document establishes that, during first period, Complainant
went
into the office; when Sheehan came into the office, Complainant asked if he had checked to
see if
Baxter and Nyenhuis were both in the IMC, as rules required; Sheehan said no; Complainant
asked
why not; Sheehan responded you know the answer to that; Complainant responded that once
again,
Sheehan was going to enforce rules against Complainant, but did not care if other teachers
were
following the same rules; and when Sheehan did not respond, Complainant left the office.
On June
2, 1998, Complainant entered the Junior High office during the first hour. The purpose of
this visit
was to make the point, for the third time, that Complainant was being treated differently
from other
IMC supervisors. As established by LaPorte's contemporaneous notes, Complainant waited
by
Knaack's office; when Sheehan came into the main office, Complainant walked across the
office,
clapping his hands, and tauntingly questioned Sheehan as to whether Sheehan had been to the
IMC
to see if Baxter and Nyenhuis were there; Sheehan responded "No"; Complainant became
loud and
demanded "Why not;? Sheehan, who was with a student, ignored Complainant; Complainant
continued to question Sheehan in a loud and disrespectful manner;

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and when Sheehan and the student went into Sheehan's office, Complainant rudely said
"So, you're
just not going to answer any of my questions." On June 7, 1998, Complainant wrote an
account of
this conversation, which indicates that, when Complainant came into the office, neither
Sheehan nor
Knaack were present; that Complainant waited a few minutes; when Sheehan came in,
Complainant
approached Sheehan and asked if Sheehan had checked to see if Baxter and Nyenhuis were in
the
IMC, as the rules require; Sheehan responded no; Complainant asked why not; Sheehan said
Complainant knew the answer to that; Complainant responded that once again Sheehan was
going
to go out of his way to enforce rules against Sheehan, but did not care if other teachers
followed the
same rules; Sheehan did not respond; and Complainant left. These notes indicate that
Complainant
did not consider himself or Sheehan to have raised their voice. Complainant's notes do not
indicate
that Complainant was clapping his hands or that Sheehan was with a student. Complainant
returned
to the main office during the second hour of June 2, 1998 and observed Sheehan sitting at his
desk
and Knaack standing behind Sheehan. Both were reading a document that was on Sheehan's
desk.
Complainant stood in the doorway to Sheehan's office and loudly asked "Have either of you
two been
in the IMC to check to see if Pietsch and Heller are both in there?" Knaack told
Complainant to
come into the office and shut the office door. LaPorte then cleared the main office of
students so that
they would not have to witness what she viewed to be a loud discussion. As she was starting
to clear
the office, Gilmore came out of her office and asked LaPorte to clear the office. LaPorte
considered
Sheehan, Knaack and Complainant to be talking loudly. Gilmore considered Sheehan and
Knaack
to be talking loudly, but considered Complainant to be yelling. Gilmore's contemporaneous
notes
report that Complainant was yelling. Comments made during the ensuing conversation
included the
following: Knaack told Complainant that Complainant had gotten the whole school in a
turmoil and
that it was going to stop and that Complainant was not going to order Sheehan to do anything
any
more; Complainant said he had not ordered Sheehan to do anything, but rather, had asked
him to do
various things; Knaack stated that Complainant walked around like he was king of the school
and that
Complainant had the whole school in an uproar; Complainant stated that, if there were any
problems
at the school, it was because Knaack and Sheehan had done their jobs poorly and that Knaack
and
Sheehan were being paid big bucks to make responsible decisions; Complainant referred to
Soto and
Martin and stated that Sheehan and Knaack were trying to put that on his shoulders, but it
was not
going to stay there because Sheehan and Knaack had mismanaged that; Complainant stated
that
Sheehan and Knaack had made their beds and would have to lie in them and "These things
will come
back to you in the course of time, just think about that;" Sheehan asked Complainant what he
meant
by this statement and Complainant told Sheehan that he was a big boy and could figure it out
for
himself; on several more occasions, Sheehan asked what Complainant meant by that
statement;
Complainant indicated that he was not going to be more specific, but that things were going
to come
back on Sheehan and not Complainant. During this conversation, Complainant also stated
that
Sheehan and Knaack were treating him differently; they were not responding to his
complaints by
checking on the other study hall supervision; and now Sheehan and Knaack were posting the
extra
French

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section, rather than following the standard practice of giving it to the part-time teacher.
Complainant
ended the conversation by asking Knaack to step aside so that he could leave the office. In
Complainant's opinion, this discussion was quite unfriendly; Knaack was angry and
belligerent; and
Knaack stood by the door, as if he were barring Complainant from leaving. In Knaack's
opinion,
Complainant had behaved inappropriately during the encounter in which Sheehan had
repeatedly
asked Complainant to return to the IMC and Complainant became "unglued" during the June
2, 1998
meeting with Sheehan and Knaack because Complainant's temper was uncontrolled;
Complainant was
talking very loudly; Complainant repeated things violently; and Complainant made
threatening
remarks to Sheehan and Knaack such as they had made their bed and now would have to lie
in it and
"These things will come back to you in the course of time, just think about that!" Knaack
did not
interpret either remark to mean that Complainant was going to file a grievance or a
prohibited
practice complaint. Knaack understood that Sheehan also felt threatened by these remarks of
Complainant. During the June 2, 1998 meeting, Knaack was not concerned that Complainant
would
do something that was physically harmful.

15. On Monday, June 1, 2003, in response to a request from Knaack, Jaworski
posted a
30% position that included one section of French and two supervisions. The posting was
open until
June 19, 1998. By letter dated June 1, 1998, Complainant applied for the 30% position by
submitting
a handwritten letter to Jaworski that includes the following:

Re: French Position at D.C. Everest Junior
High for the 1998-99 School Year

Dear Jim:

Although I highly resent that I was not
given this extra available section as a matter of course,
and that this offer to me was not made because of my efforts to get Roger Dodd, Bob
Knaack and
Mike Sheehan disciplined for their hostile actions toward me personally, I hereby give notice
that I
am indeed interested in teaching that extra session, which would raise me from 80% FTE to
100%
FTE.

The letter was cc'd to Dodd, Knaack and Sheehan. Inasmuch as
Complainant was at 80% FTE he
was not eligible for an additional 30% FTE position. When Complainant gave this letter to
Jaworski,
he had a discussion with Jaworski. On June 1, 1998, Complainant wrote an account of his
conversation with Jaworski. This account indicates that, on June 1, 1998, Jaworski told
Complainant
it was not the standard practice of the District to offer extra sections to part-time teachers as
they
become available; Complainant asked Jaworski to sign his notes of this conversation and
Jaworski
refused. In Complainant's opinion, Jaworski became rather upset when Complainant pressed
Jaworski to sign a paper indicating that he had refused to sign

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Complainant's notes. On or about June 1, 1998, Knaack told Dodd that Knaack was
posting the 30%
position because he did not want Complainant to be a 100% FTE teacher; that he needed
additional
study hall help; and that the situation was to the point where Complainant always thought
that
Complainant was right. At this time, Dodd understood that Knaack added the supervision to
this
position to make it more attractive to applicants. At this time, Knaack advised Dodd that
Complainant had altercations with Sheehan in front of staff and students; that Complainant
wanted
Sheehan to apologize for directing Complainant to return to his study hall; and that Knaack
had
received FYI's that indicated that staff members were concerned about Complainant's
presence in
the Junior High. This was the first time that Dodd knew that Knaack had decided to not
offer
Complainant a 100% position. Dodd approved of the 30% posting, but such approval was
not
needed for Knaack to post the 30% position because Knaack had the FTE available. Prior to
this
discussion, Dodd assumed that Complainant would be offered the 100% position. At the
time of this
conversation, Dodd considered the ideal situation to be to continue Complainant at 80% and
to hire
another individual to teach one French class and two supervisions. At this time, Dodd was
aware of
some of the FYI's that had been filed with concerns about Complainant.

16. Kathleen M. Heller has been employed as a District teacher for at least
seventeen
years. At the end of May in 1998, Heller was a member of the Association's Executive
Committee.
At that time, Heller stood outside the door of a room in which District faculty were
celebrating the
retirement of a colleague to see if Complainant intended to enter the room. As Heller was
leaving
the room and Gilmore was entering the room, Heller voiced her concern that Complainant
was very
angry and that something could happen in a situation where staff was together in the same
room.
Gilmore, who understood Heller to be voicing a concern that Complainant would do physical
harm
to someone, considered Heller's concern to be foolish, but advised Heller that, if Heller were
really
concerned, then she should report her concerns to Knaack. Heller told Knaack, who was at
the
retirement party, that she had stood outside the door. Heller was motivated by a fear that
Complainant would do something physically violent. Heller's fear, which she now
acknowledges was
probably irrational, was based upon her view that Complainant had become irrational about
"some
things." Heller did not observe Complainant engage in any conduct that would cause her to
conclude
that he would "snap." Her conclusion regarding Complainant's irrationality was based upon
what
she had heard about the lawsuit against Soto and Martin; Complainant's note to Maki; and a
recent
argument in the Office involving Complainant. Heller concluded that there was unease at the
Junior
High School that was attributable to Complainant and, other than guarding the door at the
retirement
party, Heller tried to steer clear of Complainant. Heller considers Soto and Martin to be
wonderful
people; does not consider Complainant's suit against Soto and Martin to be right; and
believes that
teachers in the District were afraid that, if someone made Complainant angry, then he would
sue
them. On June 2, 1998, Complainant had a conversation with Sally Holzem. Complainant
considered
Holzem to have been friendly in prior years, but now considered her to be cold.
Complainant
attributed this coldness to the fact

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that, in an April deposition, he had referenced a birthday card that Holzem had given
Maki to support
his assertion that Maki did not have a problem with "off-color stuff." On June 2, 1998,
Complainant
wrote a note and put it in the mailboxes of people who were part of "his group," which
states as
follows:

To whom it may concern,

Some of Sally Holzem's friends are under
the impression that Sally somehow "tattled" to me
about an off-color birthday card that Carol Maki had given her last fall.

Sally didn't do that, nor did she ever have
to. Carol had left that card on the table (standing
upright) in the basement lounge for all to see.

The only reason this was brought up in the
deposition of Carol Maki is that Carol simply
refused to admit that her conversations with colleagues are often of an off-color nature
(which is true
of many adults; Carol only refused to admit this because she wanted to brand me as a
verbally abusive
person).

It's too bad that these things can end up
getting innocent third parties involved, but it appears
to me that all that should be laid at the doorstep of Shar Soto and Holly Martin, since they
obviously
instigated this whole affair in the nastiest, most dishonest way possible.

Surely they didn't consider that their
refusal to own up to those actions and apologize for
them (said refusal coming a long time before this went to court) would pull some of their
friends into
the mess that they (Shar & Holly) created. But they should have.

Holzem gave Knaack a copy of this note. In late May and/or
early June of 1998, Knaack received
a FYI (For Your Information) letter from Junior High employees Carol Tuszka, Sue Leider,
and
Kathy Pietsch that stated "We feel threatened by the unstable environment George Mudrovich
has
created in this building." On or about June 2, 1998, Knaack received a letter from Maki,
dated June
2, 1998, that states "I am becoming very concerned about the escalating 'feud' between Mr.
Mudrovich and several staff members and myself. His recent note and irrational words and
actions
make me very uncomfortable." On or about June 4, 1998, Knaack received a FYI from
employee
Lois Klein, dated June 4, 1998, that states "As a side comment, I am concerned about the
feelings/tension this building is suffering due to one person's 'thinking errors' and irrational
behavior.
It is so unfortunate that our lives are manipulated by one person's misuse of laws designed to
protect
true victims. In this case I think we are the victims." Heller sent Knaack a
FYI, which is dated May
27, 1998 and states,

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in relevant part, "It is my perception and the perception of many others that the
situation with George
has become really uncomfortable. He makes me and many others uneasy. I do feel
somewhat fearful
of him at the Jr. High." This FYI was not sent in Heller's capacity as an Association
representative
and, after she had submitted this FYI, another individual wrote on the form "Head of PR."
The FYI's
were unsolicited. Knaack reviewed the FYI letters. On or about June 9, 1998, Knaack
informed
Dodd of the content of all the FYI letters. Knaack viewed the FYI's as confirming his
opinion that
there was a negative atmosphere in the Junior High and that Complainant was responsible for
this
negative atmosphere. Knaack did not ask the teachers who submitted the FYI's to provide
any other
details regarding their statements. Knaack concluded that Complainant filing an
inappropriate lawsuit
against Soto and Martin caused the concerns expressed in the FYI's. Knaack, who
considered Soto
and Martin to be very good teachers, had been astonished that Complainant had filed a suit
against
Soto and Martin and considered the suit to be unjustified and a vindictive response to two
teachers
who had brought the Maki note to Knaack's attention.

17. On or about June 2, 1998, Complainant met with LaBarge to discuss filing a
grievance
on the 30% posting. On June 3, 1998, Sheehan prepared and Knaack issued the following
letter:

Dear Mr. Mudrovich:

It has been brought to my attention that you
have, on more than one occasion, called Mr.
Sheehan's attention to the fact that your fellow teachers may or may not be carrying out their
professional responsibilities. Furthermore, I have been told that you have done so in an
unprofessional manner while in front of junior high students and office staff. Please be
advised that
we do not see this as appropriate behavior for a member of our teaching staff.

I tried to make this perfectly clear when you
walked into Mr. Sheehan's office at approximately
8:45 a.m. on June 2, 1998. Quite frankly, however, we are concerned that you may have
missed the
message since you exhibited behavior that could be described as out-of-control. Yelling loud
enough
so people in outer offices could understand you and so that students had to be moved to the
guidance
office is, again, not appropriate behavior for a member of our teaching staff.

Mr. Sheehan and I are very concerned
about one of your final statements. You threatened us that
we "made our bed and now we'd have to lie in it." When you were asked by
Mr. Sheehan for
clarification on your intended meaning you commented "These things will come back to you
in the
course of time, just think about that!" We find this statement that you made, more than
once, to be
a very threatening statement and remain concerned about your actual intent.

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So there can be no misunderstanding, always be prompt to your
teaching and supervising duties.
Remain on duty for the entire time assigned.

Please be advised that any further actions of
this nature may lead to further disciplinary actions
including termination.

This letter was cc'd to Dodd. Knaack discussed this letter with Dodd prior to issuing
the letter. At
the time that Knaack issued this letter, he was considering laying off Complainant, but had
not yet
reached a final decision on this issue. Due to the fact that this letter was incorrectly
addressed,
Complainant did not receive this letter until June 5, 1998. On June 5, 1998, Complainant
and
LaBarge, acting as a Union Representative, met with Knaack regarding Knaack's decision to
post
the 30% position. LaBarge communicated the DCETA position that Knaack should give
Complainant a 100% position and Knaack responded that would not happen. During this
conversation, Complainant questioned Knaack as to whether there had been a posting when
Complainant previously had been increased from 50 to 65% and from 65 to 80% and Knaack
initially
responded that he did not know. Knaack subsequently confirmed that Complainant had been
bumped
from 3 to 4 classes because it was convenient for the District to do so. When Complainant,
who
believed that Knaack had previously stated that he had to post the extra French section under
District
policy, asked why Knaack had not followed District policy when he had previously bumped
Complainant, Knaack responded by asking Complainant if the District should not have done
so and
should the District now reduce Complainant's contract. During this conversation, Knaack
explained
that Complainant was assigned an extra French section on the "Master List" because a name
was
needed to generate the program; Complainant's name was selected because he taught French;
and,
therefore, Complainant should not be expecting, on the basis of the master schedule, to have
a 100%
position. At this June 5th meeting, LaBarge and Complainant filed a
written grievance on the
"Assignment of available French classes," which alleges that "Article 2-C applied in an
arbitrary and
capricious manner; Article 30." This written grievance also includes the following:

Mr. Mudrovich observed the master class list at the Jr. High on
May 16, 1998. He observed that
Ms. Berns was scheduled to teach 1 of the 6 sections of French and He was scheduled to
teach 5 of
the sections. Mr. Mudrovich checked with Mr. Sheehan on May 17, about the fact that the
5th class
would be a 100% contract. For the 1997-98 (sic) he has been teaching an 80% Contract.
On
May 18, Mr. Knaack asked Mr. Mudrovich if he was willing to teach the
5th class at 100% contract.
Mr. Mudrovich indicated that he would be willing. Mr. Knaack asked for a letter indicating
that
willingness and Mr. Mudrovich complied. On May 27 in a question/answer session with
Mr. Knaack,
Mr. Mudrovich asked Mr. Knaack about teaching the extra French section, and

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was told that Mr. Knaack had not decided if
there was a section nor if he would recommend Mr.
Mudrovich for the slot. June 1 there was an internal posting for a 30% French position
which Mr.
Mudrovich applied for.

The requested corrective action was "Increase 1998-99 contract
of Mr. Mudrovich to 100% FTE to
allow him to teach the extra section of French". Attached to this grievance was the
following:

Mr. Mudrovich should have his contract for 1998-99 adjusted to
100% based on the following
facts:

1. The master schedule for the
1998-99 school year at the Jr. High includes 6 sections of French.

2. Ms. Berns is scheduled to
teach 4 sections of French at the Sr. High, and 1 section of French
at the Jr. High, leaving 1 section open.

3. Mr. Mudrovich's contract
for the 1998-99 school year is for 4 classes at 80%.

4. Mr. Knaack asked Mr.
Mudrovich if he were willing to teach at 100%, thus indicating that
solution to the open French class. Since Mr. Mudrovich's name was on the master list
for 5
classes, and Mr. Knaack asked about his willingness to teach 5 classes,
Mr. Mudrovich was
led to believe that he would be teaching the 5th class in 1998-99.

5. There is a posting for a
30% French teacher at the Jr. High. This would not seem to be
needed, as there is one French class open and increasing Mr. Mudrovich's present contract
to 100% would solve the open class situation.

6. Twice in the past, when
additional French classes were added to the master schedule, Mr.
Mudrovich's contract was adjusted upward to accommodate the additional classes. It would
be appropriate therefore, based on past practice, to adjust his contract to 100% and allow
him
to teach the 5th class.

7. Mr. Mudrovich's classroom
observation reports and year end evaluation were very favorable,
indicating that he has had a successful teaching year and is thus qualified to teach as a full
time teacher in the district.

Article 2 of the Master Contract gives the
school board the right to operate the school system,
but neither the board nor its agents may apply that right in an arbitrary and capricious
manner. Not
assigning the one open French class to Mr. Mudrovich, and then posting it as a 30% opening
is an
arbitrary and capricious application of management rights to the point of hiring an additional

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person for more teaching time than is
actually necessary. It would seem to be more reasonable
and sensible to adjust the contract of an 80% teacher in the same building as the open section
to
accommodate for the needed 20% FTE.

This decision also limits Mr. Mudrovich's
access to a career in the district under article 30, since
it is limiting his contract to 80% rather than the 100% contract of a career teacher.

Shortly after Knaack received the written grievance, he discussed it with Dodd. When
Knaack
received the written grievance on the French posting, he reviewed the contract to determine
if there
was a section that could be legally grieved; concluded that there was not; and denied the
grievance.
On June 7, 1998, Complainant wrote a five page document, recounting his June 2, 1998
conversation
with Knaack and Sheehan, which includes the following:

(These notes are my best memory of a
conversation that took place between Bob Knaack,
Mike Sheehan and me at approximately 8:45 AM on June 2 1998 in Mike Sheehan's
office:)

I came into the main office, and saw that
both Bob Knaack and Mike Sheehan were in
Sheehan's office. I went to the doorway and saw that Sheehan was holding a letter (I believe
that
it was my June 1 letter to Jim Jaworski) while he was seated at his desk, and that Knaack
was
standing behind him. They were reading it.

I asked "Have either one of you checked
this morning whether Baxter and Nyenhuis were
both in the IMC during 1st period?" Knaack said, "Come in and close the
door."

A lot of things were said, but I don't
remember them all. Here are some that I do remember:

Knaack: "You have no right to talk to
Mike Sheehan like you have a couple times in the last
few days. You owe him an apology."

Me: "How about the way Mike talked to
me? He came up to me in the middle of the main
office and talked to me like I was one of his 7th grade students who had
been sent to the office."

Sheehan: "I was just telling you that you
needed to go back to the IMC study hall. That
particular study hall is one we've had a lot of trouble with, and I wanted you to go back
there."

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Me: "You were very rude to me in front of the secretaries
& students, and I don't
appreciate it."

Knaack: "He's your superior here, and when he tells you to
do
something, you need to do
it and not argue. I want you to apologize to Mike right now."

Me: "I asked you to have Mike
apologize to me for the way Mike was rude to me and you
said 'No way'."

Knaack: "I'm telling you to apologize to
Mike now."

Me: "I'm not apologizing to Mike for
anything. He was rude to me, which started this whole
thing. He needs to apologize to me."

Knaack: "You can't apologize for
anything, can you? You never apologize for anything. You
act like your (sic) King of the school. And you've gotten this whole school in turmoil."

Me: "I'm not the one who has caused
problems in this school. You two are. You have
mismanaged this whole affair from the beginning. You think you can put all this on my
shoulders,
but that's not what's going to happen. You're going to see that people above you are going
to find
out how badly you two have done your jobs."

Knaack: "What do you mean?"

Me: "You two guys are paid big bucks
to sit in your chairs and make proper decisions.
But you've tried to sabotage the French program since the get-go. And in the course of time
you're
going to see that that's going to come back on you, not me."

Sheehan then asked me about 5 or 6 times
exactly what I meant by that.

Each time I gave answers such as, "You
don't need things explained to you, figure it out
yourself." Or, "I'm just saying that in the course of time, your actions are going to come
back on
you."

I certainly did not shout during this
meeting, although at times, I may have raised my voice,
though certainly not to a higher level than Bob Knaack had.

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I don't remember what was said just before the end of the
meeting, but at the very end,
Knaack was standing by the closed door, giving me the impression that he was trying to
prevent me
from leaving. So I said to him, "I'm going to open that door now and leave."

I did that, and that was the end of the
meeting.

Addendum: When Mike Sheehan said he
was only concerned that my study hall have 2
supervisors at all times because of problems there, I said "Have you checked with Donna
Stieber how
the study hall is since I came on board?

I had said at one point that the January
memo applied to all 2-person teams. Knaack said, "I put
in the memo that if people had any needs to leave, they could square that away with me."

Me: "The memo didn't say anything about
that."

Knaack: "Yes, it did."

Me: "I'm sure it didn't say that. Show me
the memo."

Knaack gave me a wicked smile: "You
don't have the memo, do you?"

Knaack said that he hadn't checked whether
Baxter and Nyenhuis were both at IMC that
morning, because he had had Baxter in his (i.e. Knaack's) office to talk to him about it.

[Knaack obviously told Baxter that I had
"turned him in", because when Baxter later saw me,
he said (irritated) "You went to Knaack about me?"

18. Principals have authority to assign available authorized
FTE's to current part-time
teachers. The School Board must approve all adjustments to FTE allotments and individual
teaching
contract percentages. Dodd, but not the Principals, has authority to recommend to the School
Board
that a part-time teacher be non-renewed or laid off. June 5, 1998, was the last day of the
school year.
Prior to June 10, 1998, Dodd asked Owens for his interpretation of Article 32(I), which
states as
follows:

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I. Part-Time to Full-Time Assignment: In the event
that a regular part-time position covered
by this contract becomes a regular full-time position at any time during the year, it is
understood that
the employee occupying the regular part-time position may be laid off immediately and that
he/she
may apply for the regular full-time position and will be considered together with other
applicants for
the position. Full-time teachers reduced to regular part-time shall not be subject to this
provision.

During the conversation regarding Article 32(I), Dodd told Owens that when
Complainant was
interviewed for his part-time position there were few candidates. On or about June 10,
1998, Knaack
met with Dodd; advised Dodd that the District had not received any applications for the 30%
position; and recommended that Complainant be laid off. Knaack told Dodd that he wanted
to lay
off Complainant because there had been altercations between Complainant and Sheehan in
front of
support staff and students and that Knaack had received FYI's that indicated that staff was
upset and
concerned about Complainant's presence at the Junior High. Dodd and Knaack discussed the
fact
that, if Complainant were to be given the 100% position, then the District would be deprived
of the
opportunity to improve upon the position. Knaack also gave Dodd a copy of the June 2,
1998 letter
from Complainant regarding Maki's birthday card to Holzem. During this discussion, Dodd
telephoned the District's attorney to confirm the attorney's interpretation of Article 32(I). At
this
time, Dodd decided to apply Article 32(I) and layoff Complainant. Dodd concluded that it
was
appropriate to apply Article 32(I) to Complainant because it would be in the best interests of
the
District to improve upon Complainant. Dodd thought that it was likely that the District could
improve upon Complainant because Complainant had demonstrated that he was not a team
player;
Complainant had alienated colleagues; and Complainant was responsible for a negative
climate in the
Junior High. Dodd also gave consideration to the fact that Complainant had been hired from
a small
applicant pool. Dodd concluded that Complainant was not a team player because
Complainant did
not act reasonably when he had disputes with others; always had to have his own way; and
would do
anything to get his own way. In reaching these conclusions, Dodd gave consideration to
Complainant's repeated questioning of Sheehan and Complainant's demand that Sheehan
apologize.
Dodd's conclusion that Complainant was responsible for a negative climate at the Junior
High was
based upon Complainant's questioning Sheehan's authority in front of staff and students;
Complainant's creating a disturbance in the Junior High office on more than one occasion;
the FYI's
that were submitted by Junior High staff and Complainant's lawsuit against Soto and Martin.
Dodd
had the opinion that this lawsuit had caused colleagues to avoid Complainant because they
were
afraid of confrontation and of being sued by Complainant. In making his decision to layoff
Complainant, Dodd read and gave consideration to Complainant's notes of the May 28, 1998
confrontation with Sheehan; the June 2, 1998 letter that Complainant had written regarding
Maki's
birthday card; Gilmore's note and the FYI's. Dodd learned about most of the FYI's at this
meeting
with Knaack. Dodd also gave consideration to his discussions with Sheehan regarding the
recent
confrontations that

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Dec. No. 29946-L

had occurred in the Junior High office and statements of LaPorte. Dodd considered
Complainant's
written statement to contain admissions of inappropriate conduct, such as being out of his
study hall
without permission. Dodd was concerned about Complainant's conduct in repeatedly
questioning
Sheehan; in not returning to his study hall until after Sheehan had repeatedly directed
Complainant
to return to his study hall; in demanding that Sheehan apologize; and in causing students to
be
removed from the office. In Dodd's opinion, Complainant should have immediately
complied with
Sheehan's work directive and then returned at a later time to discuss any concerns. Dodd
was
particularly concerned about the fact that Complainant's inappropriate behavior towards
Sheehan
occurred in the presence of other staff and students. A significant factor in Dodd's decision
to layoff
Complainant was Dodd's conclusion that, if staff who were fearful of Complainant were
willing to
sign their names to documents saying that they were concerned about the climate at the
Junior High,
then Dodd was not acting in the best interest of the District by not taking advantage of the
contract
provision that allowed the District to lay off Complainant and post a 100% position to
determine if
a better candidate for the 100% French position were available. Dodd was of the opinion
that his
recommendation to layoff Complainant would likely result in large legal costs to the District,
but was
not of the opinion that it would jeopardize Dodd's employment with the District. Knaack
and Dodd
did not discuss Complainant's grievances when they discussed laying off Complainant. Dodd
did not
discuss Complainant's grievance of October 29, 1997, with Knaack between the time that the
School
Board issued its response to the grievance and the time that Dodd decided to recommend the
lay off
of Complainant. On June 9, 1998, Complainant made a public records request for
information
regarding the employment of part-time teachers. On June 10, 1998, as Complainant was
using a
computer in the IMC, Sheehan came in and told Complainant that Dodd was looking for
him.
Complainant said "OK" and continued working on the computer. Ten or twenty minutes
later,
Sheehan came in and said Dodd was in Knaack's office and wanted to meet with
Complainant.
Complainant said "OK" and went to Knaack's office. Dodd then told Complainant that Dodd
had
decided to recommend that Complainant be laid off to zero percent under Article 32(I).
Dodd then
gave Complainant a copy of this contract provision. Dodd told Complainant that after the
School
Board voted on the layoff recommendation, then Complainant would be allowed to apply for
the
100% position that would be posted within a day or two and would be considered along with
the
other candidates. Dodd also told Complainant that Article 32(I) had been used in the high
school
earlier in the year. Dodd told Complainant to turn in his keys. Knaack did not make any
statement
during this meeting. Complainant returned to the IMC, gathered his belonging, and left the
building.
At that point, Knaack did not consider Complainant to be an employee of the District. When
the
District laid off part-time teacher Cindy Skadahl, Solsrud or Johansen informed her of this
layoff.
Dodd's statement that Article 32(I) had been used earlier in the year and Dodd's
subsequent similar
statement to the School Board at the September, 1998 grievance hearing were not correct,
but Dodd
believed these statements to be correct at the time that he made these statements. Dodd's
belief that
teachers had been previously laid off under Article 32(I) was based on hearsay statements of
other
administrators

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Dec. No. 29946-L

and was not independently verified by Dodd. Administrators other than Dodd
considered Article
32(I) to have been used in the past. On June 11, 1998, the District posted a vacancy for a
100% FTE
French teacher. The certification requirement was "Certification by the Wisconsin
Department of
Public Instruction in French (#355)." The "Qualifications" were as follows:

Successful teaching or practicum experience at secondary level.

Ability to work as a member of a team in the House Concept

Ability to establish and maintain effective professional and
public relationships.

Ability to relate to students

The posting also included the following: "Applications must be received in the
Personnel Department
by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 1998."

19. Complainant, who considered himself to have been fired at the June 10, 1998
meeting,
subsequently met with LaBarge to discuss filing a grievance. LaBarge and Complainant
reviewed
part-time teacher records. Complainant did not find any documentation that a part-time
teacher had
been laid off under Article 32(I). On June 15, 1998, Complainant, Coffey, LaBarge, Dodd,
Knaack
and Owens met to discuss Complainant's pending layoff. Owens made notes of this meeting
and
these notes were used by the District to prepare a typewritten summary of this meeting.
Neither
Owens notes, nor the typewritten summary, is a verbatim account of the meeting, but the
typewritten
summary is substantially accurate with respect to the events recounted. At this meeting,
Coffey was
provided with an opportunity to state the Association's position. Coffey stated, inter
alia, that the
District was not following past practice or acting in good faith by failing to raise
Complainant to
100% FTE; by laying off Complainant; and that layoff was for reductions in budget or
enrollment.
Dodd supported the District's decisions by stating, inter alia, that, when
Complainant was hired,
only two candidates applied for this position; that the wording of the contract allows the
District to
layoff Complainant in order to gather the best candidates from a large pool; that
Complainant's layoff
was neither a non-renewal nor a discharge, but rather, was a layoff under Article 32; that
other part-time teachers had been laid off; that some, but not all, of the laid off part-time
teachers applied for
full-time teaching positions; that some, but not all, of those who applied were hired for
full-time
teaching positions; that the District has not consistently laid off part-time employees and then
posted
a 100% position, which is why the contract states that the part-time employee "may" be laid
off; and
that, in the process of scheduling courses for next year, there had been a discussion as to
whether or
not District administrators would need to do a layoff and post for a full-time position.
Approximately
twenty minutes into the meeting, Complainant began addressing Dodd. Complainant told
Dodd that
he had received a legal opinion that Complainant had been fired when he was told to return
his keys
and stay off the premises on June 10, 1998. Dodd responded that Complainant had not been
told to
stay off the

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premises, but rather, that Complainant had been told that, if he wanted to use the
facilities that he had
to check in at the office and the office would decide. Complainant attempted to read parts of
the
contract and Dodd cut off Complainant by telling Complainant that he was not interested in
having
Complainant read from the contract. When Complainant continued in his attempts to read
from the
contract, he was met with the same response. Complainant and Dodd engaged in an
exchange which
included the following: "Dr. Dodd, if you expect to have your job in a week or two you had
better
listen;" Dodd responded "Are you threatening me?;" Complainant responded "You serve at
the
pleasure of the board and you better consider how they look at this contract;" Dodd
responded "Are
you threatening me? It sure sounds like it;" Complainant responded "All I'm saying is that if
you, Mr.
Knaack, and Mr. Sheehan expect to have your jobs in a week or two you had better think
about how
a jury views the contract as well;" and Dodd responded "Now you are threatening all of us."
Complainant responded that he was not threatening Dodd, just saying what could happen.
Complainant stated that he could not take Dodd's job away. Dodd responded that he knew
that, so
if Complainant could not take his job away, the only reason that Dodd would not be there
would be
if Complainant does physical harm to Dodd. Complainant denied that he was making a
physical threat
against Dodd. Complainant's voice rose during this exchange. Dodd stood up when he
asked if he
was being physically threatened and pointed his finger at Complainant. Complainant
responded that
he was not threatening Dodd, just saying what could happen. Dodd reiterated that
Complainant was
threatening him. At that point, Complainant decided that the meeting was not going to be
productive;
gave Dodd a prepared sheet that indicated what Complainant needed to settle the matter; and
left the
room. LaBarge and Coffey remained in the room. Complainant considered Dodd to be
belligerent
in his responses and not open to Coffey's arguments. During this meeting, Dodd and
Complainant
both raised their voices.

20. In response to a request from Dodd, Knaack provided the following letter, dated
June
16, 1998, to Dodd:

Mr. George Mudrovich needs to be laid off from his 80%
teaching contract to 0%. This action
needs to be taken as we will be advertising for a full-time French teacher.

Dodd requested this letter in preparation for the School Board
meeting of June 23, 1998 for the
purpose of providing it in background materials and demonstrating that the Principal was in
agreement with Dodd's recommendation to lay off Complainant. On June 18, 1998, Dodd
prepared
an agenda newsletter for the School Board meeting of June 23, 1998, which indicated that
Dodd
would be recommending numerous employment/resignations/contract adjustments, including
that
Complainant be decreased from an 80% contract to a 0% contract. Consistent with normal
practices, Dodd met with committees of the School Board prior to the June 23, 1998 School
Board
meeting; advised the attending members of these committees that he was recommending that
Complainant be laid off under Article 32(I); and explained that this

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provision of the contract permitted the District to lay off the part-time employee when
the District
intended to make the part-time position a 100% position. Dodd did not offer an explanation
as to
why he was recommending that the School Board exercise it's Article 32(I) rights, and no
Committee
member asked for such an explanation. Consistent with her normal practice, Leonard met
with Dodd
prior to the June 23, 1998 meeting to discuss matters that would be on the agenda. During
this
meeting, Dodd informed Leonard that there would be a number of contract adjustments, one
of which
was Complainants', and explained that the administration was recommending the adjustment
to
Complainant's contract because there was a provision in the contract that permitted the
District to
eliminate a part-time position and post a full-time position. Dodd also stated that when
Complainant's
part-time position was originally posted, the applicant pool was not very large; and that
inasmuch as
full-time position is desirable, the administration was hopeful that the posting would attract a
larger
applicant pool. Dodd offered Leonard no other reason for the recommendation. At that time,
Leonard believed that Article 32(I) had been invoked earlier in the year in laying off an
English
teacher. On June 19, 1998, Complainant went into the office of the Junior High and asked
Sheehan
if he could use the computer and copier in the IMC. Sheehan responded that he did not
think that
he could let Complainant do that. Following further discussion between Sheehan and
Complainant,
Complainant left the building. Shortly after this discussion, Complainant made notes of this
discussion. These notes indicate, inter alia, that when Complainant asked
why he could not use the
facilities, Sheehan responded that he thought they were supposed to only let people who were
on duty
do that; Complainant indicated that he had previously come in on off hours and used the
facilities;
Sheehan responded that was before the layoff decision and all this stuff; Sheehan asked a
secretary
to make a mental note of Sheehan's refusal; when the secretary nervously agreed,
Complainant
suggested that she write down certain information; Sheehan called out that he did not think
that was
necessary; and that, as Complainant was leaving the office, Sheehan asked if Complainant
could wait
until Monday so that Sheehan could discuss the matter with Knaack. On June 23, 1998, the
School
Board held a regularly scheduled School Board meeting. At this meeting, Dodd
recommended
numerous personnel actions, including that Complainant be reduced from an 80% contract to
a 0%
contract, effective June 23, 1998. Complainant was present at this meeting and a number of
citizens
addressed the School Board in support of Complainant. No member of the public spoke in
opposition
to Complainant. Hazaert, Dodd and Owens, but not Knaack, attended this School Board
meeting.
At the June 23, 1998 meeting, the School Board, in open session and without discussion,
voted to
approve a number of personnel actions, including that Complainant be reduced from an 80%
contract
to a 0% contract, thereby effectuating Complainant's layoff. Leonard, who was present at
the June
23, 1998 meeting, concluded that the support demonstrated by the public on behalf of
Complainant
did not provide a sufficient basis to further investigate administration's recommendation to
layoff
Complainant.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

21. On June 30, 1998, Complainant submitted an application for the posted 100%
French
position. Subsequently, an unknown individual attached Complainant's June 1, 1998
application
letter for the 30% French position to his June 30, 1998 application for the 100% position.
Current
employees of the District are not always required to provide new applications, or to be
interviewed,
for new positions, or increased contracts. Rather, the application process varies depending
upon the
nature of the position and the discretionary decisions that are made by the administrator
involved in
the process. Such a discretionary decision may be to review, or to not review, the District's
observation reports of the teacher applicants. At the time that Complainant applied for and
was
interviewed for the 100% French position, his layoff had been effectuated and, thus, he was
not a
current employee of the District. Complainant is not the only individual that has been laid
off by the
District and subsequently required to submit a new application or to be re-interviewed when
seeking
another position with the District.

22. By letter dated July 9, 1998, Beth Bouffleur, who was not a District employee,
confirmed her interest in the 100% French position. Bouffleur brought her completed
District
application when she arrived for her July 13, 1998 interview. An individual in the District,
probably
Dodd, permitted Bouffleur to apply for the position after the closing date on the posting.
Dodd
appointed Hazaert to head the interview team for the 100% French position. Normally,
Knaack, as
the building principal for the posted position, would have been a member of the interview
team, but
Dodd decided that Knaack and Sheehan would not be on the interview team and advised
Hazaert
accordingly. Dodd chose not to use Knaack or Sheehan on the interview team because they
had had
recent confrontations with Complainant and he wanted interview team members that were not
a party
to these confrontations. Knaack was disappointed that he was not a member of the interview
team
because he prefers to be involved in hiring Junior High staff. Knaack expressed this
disappointment
to Dodd. Dodd has not determined the composition of any other interview team during his
tenure
as Administrator. Dodd told Hazaert that Johansen and Solsrud would be on the interview
team and
Hazaert then told Johansen and Solsrud of their appointment to the interview team. When
Dodd
chose Hazaert to head the interview team, Dodd knew that Hazaert had some knowledge of
Complainant's disputes with Knaack and Sheehan. Dodd chose Hazaert because of his
authority
within the District; his competence, including his competence in administering the Gallup
Teacher
Perceiver Interview, hereafter Perceiver; and the fact that Hazaert had not been immediately
involved
in disputes with Complainant. After instructing Hazaert on the composition of the interview
team;
advising Hazaert that Complainant would be interviewed for the 100% position; and
confirming that
Hazaert was to follow normal procedures, Dodd did not have further interaction with the
interview
team until he received their recommendation as to which candidate should be offered the
100%
French position. Consistent with normal procedures, the interview team members
individually
screened the applications on file and made recommendations as to who should be
interviewed.
Complainant's application and Bouffleur's application may not have been available for such
screening.
The interview team

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did not need to screen Complainant's application because Dodd had told Hazaert that
Complainant
would be interviewed. Hazaert had told the other interview team members that Complainant
would
be interviewed. Consistent with normal District interview procedures, the interview team
interviewed
the applicants that had been selected for interviews and, following the completion of the
interviews,
made a recommendation as to who should be offered the 100% French position. The same
interview
process was used for each applicant, i.e., introductions were made, the
interview process was
explained; the interview was conducted and, at the end of the interview process, each
candidate was
provided with an opportunity to ask questions about the District and the position. Each
candidate
was told that the successful candidate would receive a telephone call and all others would
receive a
letter. Portions of the interview were recorded and transcribed. The District has used the
Perceiver
for approximately twenty years. The Perceiver is designed to identify the strengths and
weaknesses
in the talents that are believed to predict a successful teacher. Solsrud and Johansen have
been
trained in administering and scoring the Perceiver. Hazaert administered and scored the
Perceivers
that were given to each of the candidates for the 100% French position. Complainant, as
well as
candidate's Bouffleur and Betty Delsarte, were predicts on the Perceiver. For each member
of the
interview team, responses to the Perceiver were a factor in determining their Number One
and Two
candidates, but neither the responses to individual questions, nor the total score, were
determining
factors. When the Gallup Organization scored Complainant's responses to the Perceiver, this
score
was lower than Hazaert's scoring, but the difference was not significant. At the time that
the
interview team selected the candidate for the 100% French position, the interview team had
access
to each of the candidate's applications and materials that were submitted by the candidates
with their
applications, such as portfolios and letters of reference. The interview team gave
consideration to
these materials when deciding who was the best candidate for the 100% French position.
The
District's application asks for a brief explanation of background knowledge on a variety of
issues,
including "Skills for Effective Instruction" and "Dimensions of Learning." Bouffleur's and
Complainant's application contain a response to the request for this information.
Complainant had
referenced certain materials in his application, such as his observation reports or evaluations,
but had
not appended his observation reports or evaluations to his application. The interview team
reviewed
only those materials that had been submitted by the applicants and, thus, did not review or
consider
Complainant's evaluations or observation reports. At the interview, Complainant was asked
the
following: "Can you describe your relationships with colleagues in the department in which
you last
taught which would be Foreign Language?" Complainant responded with the following:

GM: Well, I suppose everybody is aware that this last
year has not been a good year but in my first
two years I've had extremely good relationships with virtually everybody I worked with,
with
the exception of one person who is the other French teacher, Ann Berns. Ann and I have
not
gotten along real well from the beginning and in fact I talked to

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Corinne a few times about trying to get
some kind of a mediation between the two of us
because we seem to be at loggerheads on stuff. That hasn't been really pursued. At one
point
I have wanted to take it a little further and I know that a lot of people in the school have the
opinion that Ann and I don't get along because of things of my doing and things that Bob
Knaack had mentioned a couple of times, that I corrected her pronunciation when she was
working on something in class and that's something that has been blown totally out of
proportion because it was something that I talked to her about in private. It's something that
she was doing wrong and she chose to go and tell all of her colleagues about it. I didn't
make
it a public proclamation but from the very first day that I was there Ann tried to act as if she
was my boss and started to try to tell me how to do things this way and that way and I told
her in the beginning that it wasn't her position to tell me to do this or that but she continued
to do this. In fact I think you were present at one point when we were talking about
portfolios either in the first year or the second year. She was telling me that I have to do
this,
I have to do that. I said, "Ann, now listen. You can ask me to do something but it's not
your
position to tell me to do something." Ann and I have not gotten along. In fact, not many
people know this but either during, I think it was during my second year, about six or seven
times she put notices in my mailbox of vacancies of teaching positions elsewhere. With no
name on it, nothing. After about five or six of these I said, "Ann, have you been putting
these
in my mailbox?" And she said, "Yes, I have." And I said, "Well, I understand that you
might
be trying to do something for my benefit but it would have been nice to just let me know that
you were doing this and just sign your name on it." She said she didn't have time to sign
her
name on them. It would take one second to write Ann on it. It was clear that she didn't
want
me around here anymore because she and I have not gotten along real well and as I
mentioned
I've talked to Corinne about it a couple of times. I talked to Bob about it one time, but I'm
kind of a bit of a pariah at school right now and so a lot of people have the opinion that if
there's a dispute between me and anybody else that it's my fault. I'm going to say that in
my
first two years I shared classrooms with colleagues. I substituted my first year about 80
different times. I substituted my second year about 30 or 40 different times, shared
classrooms on a day-to-day basis with six or seven people and I've never had any problems
with any of them. At the end of last year at about this time a couple of my teachers
poisoned
the well between the two of us, between the three of us I should say, and that has caused
some hard feelings that frankly were not handled by my supervisors in a very

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fair way at all. I'll elaborate on that for
just one second to say that I was accused of being
verbally abusive by a couple of teachers and the very first thing I did after finding out who
did
this is I went to Bob Knaack and said that I'd like to have a meeting about this and discuss
this. If the teachers are that much at loggerheads when they're doing things that are that
nasty to each other, there is something wrong. So I went to Bob and asked if we could have
a conference about it and he refused to do it. So, things have not gone well this last year but
I don't feel that that's something that can be laid at my doorstep. I want to continue
teaching.
My job is something that's valuable to me and I want to maintain my career here in the
Wausau area because this is my home. I will continue to try to do my job as professionally
as possible but I do regret that there have been things done by supervisors above me that
have
been contrary to teachers getting along well with each other and hopefully eventually that
will
pass.

At the interview, Beth Bouffleur was asked "Could you describe your relationship with
colleagues
in the foreign language department in which you last taught?" and responded:

Well, there was only one and that was my cooperating teacher.
They do only offer French at
DeSoto. I had a very good relationship with her. We had the same train of thought and
sometimes
it was really kind of scary because we would be thinking the same things, you know. I
definitely think
I'm the kind of person that can get along with lots of different people.

At the end of all the interviews, Hazaert asked each team member to tell him their first
and second
choices for the 100% French position. Each interview team member ranked Bouffleur and
Delsarte
as their top two candidates. Hazaert and Johansen ranked Bouffleur as their Number One
candidate.
The interview team interviewed five candidates. Once it became evident that there was
agreement
on the top two candidates, the discussion focused primarily upon the pros and cons of
Bouffleur and
Delsarte. There was, however, some discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the
other
candidates as a check to determine whether or not the interview team members had heard and
understood the same information.

23. At the time of the interview for the 100% French position, Hazaert knew that
there
had been a 30% posting; that Complainant had filed a suit against some Junior High
teachers; that
Complainant had been laid off under Article 32(I); and that Complainant had conflicts with
several
people, including Knaack. At that time, Hazaert understood that other teachers had been laid
off
under Article 32(I). At the time of Complainant's layoff, Hazaert did not have the opinion
that
Knaack had hard feelings toward Complainant, or bore Complainant any ill will. Hazaert's
understanding of the candidate's proficiency in French

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was a factor that was considered by Hazaert when evaluating the candidates for the
100% position
and was primarily determined by the fact that each candidate had the appropriate certification
to teach
French. Hazaert understood that Delsarte was bi-lingual and that Complainant reported
during the
interview that his French language proficiency was high. Hazaert considers Perceiver scores
to be
indicators, but not absolute determinants, of an applicant's talents. Hazaert considers other
interview
responses to strengthen or weaken the Perceiver indicators. Hazaert concluded that
Complainant
was a marginal predict on the Perceiver because of inconsistencies with other responses made
during
the interview. Complainant's responses to Johansen's questioning of Complainant's
relationships
to others influenced Hazaert's conclusion that Complainant was a marginal predict on the
Perceiver.
Hazaert did not consider Complainant's oral interview responses to have demonstrated any
significant
use of instructional models used by the District, e.g., Effective Instruction and
Dimensions of
Learning. Discussions at the end of the interviews lead Hazaert to conclude that the other
interview
team members were not satisfied that Complainant had demonstrated that he used District
instructional models to any significant degree. Hazaert considered Bouffleur's interview to
have
demonstrated that Bouffleur was eager, spontaneous, extremely positive and excited about the
100%
French position. Hazaert considered the fact that Bouffleur had completed her Master's
Degree to
be an indication that she set high goals for herself and was committed to her career. Hazaert
was
impressed by the fact that Bouffleur had worked in a computer lab at the university; was
familiar with
a variety of software programs and had assisted other teachers in setting up computer
programs.
Hazaert considered Bouffleur to have demonstrated that she was familiar with different
initiatives and
to have given some examples of how she had used these initiatives. The primary reason that
Hazaert
chose Bouffleur was her positive attitude; her enthusiasm for the position; her high level of
commitment to her career; her demonstration that those that had worked with her were very
positive
about her; her interest in co-curricular activities; and her demonstration that she had some
background with and could use District initiatives in the classroom. The primary reason that
Hazaert
did not select Complainant was that Complainant's interview indicated that Complainant had
difficulty
getting along with other staff members, particularly the other District French teacher.
Hazaert's
"primary reasons" for selecting Bouffleur, rather than Complainant, are reasonably supported
by
Bouffleur's and Complainant's application materials and interview transcript. While
recognizing that
it is natural to have conflicts within an organization, statements made by Complainant lead
Hazaert
to conclude that Complainant did not accept responsibility for any of the conflicts, but rather
blamed
other staff members, and that Complainant wanted a third party, i.e.
administrators, to resolve his
conflicts with others. Complainant's statements regarding his conflict with other staff did not
persuade Hazaert that Complainant could move beyond the conflicts that he had had with
other staff
members or work with these staff members in a collegial environment and, thus, could not
be
successful in the 100% French position. Hazaert considered Complainant's responses to the
Perceiver questions to indicate that Complainant is not receptive to new ideas from multiple
sources;
lacks objectivity and is not innovative. From this, Hazaert concluded that it was not likely

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that Complainant would be a strong candidate for future District initiatives. Hazaert
did not consider
Complainant's interview responses to clearly establish that Complainant had a commitment to
teaching. Specifically, Hazaert was concerned that Complainant made a verbal response that
indicated that he was interested in teaching at a young age, but that his career choices did not
verify
his stated interest, e.g., he worked in an oil field. Hazaert had a high degree of
concern over the
cover letter that was attached to Complainant's application, but the cover letter was not a
factor in
Hazaert's hiring decision. At the time that the interview team selected Bouffleur as the top
candidate
for the 100% French position, Hazaert did not know that Complainant had received his
disciplinary
letter of June 3, 1998. Prior to the interview, Hazaert was aware of the fact that Knaack had
raised
criticisms that Complainant was not organized; did not follow the effective instruction model;
and had
alienated teachers, but never inferred from these criticisms that Knaack did not want
Complainant to
be chosen as the candidate for the 100% French position. In ranking the top two applicants,
Hazaert
ranked Bouffleur as his Number One candidate and Delsarte as his Number Two candidate.

24. Solsrud was aware of the 30% French posting, but did not know who made
the
recommendation to post this position. Knaack and Sheehan did not discuss this posting with
Solsrud
prior to the time that it was posted. Solsrud considers the process for hiring the 100%
French teacher
to be the standard process employed by the District and consistent with her prior experiences
with
the District's hiring process. When Hazaert told Solsrud that Johansen would be on the
interview
team, he also stated that Johansen would be fair, do a good job, and that it would be a better
interview team. Solsrud assumed that Johansen, rather than Knaack, was on the interview
team
because Knaack and Complainant had had conflict and that Johansen would be more
impersonal or
impartial. Solsrud does not recall Knaack consulting her about Complainant's layoff, but
does recall
that Knaack discussed this layoff with Solsrud; told Solsrud that he was following the
contract clause
that permitted the District to layoff a part-time teacher in order to hire a full-time teacher;
and did not
explain why the District was applying that clause to Complainant. Complainant's layoff
made sense
to Solsrud because it was consistent with her understanding of District practices and seemed
to be
similar to what had occurred with Skadahl earlier that year. Solsrud's knowledge of
Complainant's
layoff did not lead her to conclude that Complainant had been laid off because Knaack and/or
Dodd
did not want Complainant in the District. At the time of the interviews for the 100% French
position,
Solsrud either did not know of, or had forgotten about, Complainant's October 29, 1997
grievance.
Solsrud went off-contract on, or about, June 12, 1998. In ranking the top two candidates for
the
100% position, Solsrud gave consideration to the application materials, the interview and the
portfolio that each candidate was requested to bring at the time of the interview. At some
point in
the interview process, Solsrud saw Complainant's application and was struck by the fact that
Complainant had a handwritten application letter. In Solsrud's judgment, Bouffleur and
Delsarte
stood out from all the other applicants and were her top two choices. Solsrud's final
selection of
Bouffleur as the top candidate was largely based upon her perception that Bouffleur had
submitted
a strong portfolio, had strong references, did well on

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the Perceiver and had a strong interview. Solsrud considered Bouffleur to have done a
good job of
explaining her teaching philosophy and how she taught. Solsrud, who considered Bouffleur
to be a
stellar candidate, was particularly impressed by the fact that Bouffleur had a Master's Degree
in
French and was active in pursuing opportunities to hear and speak French. Bouffleur's and
Complainant's application materials and interview transcript reasonably support Solsrud's
conclusions
regarding Bouffleur's qualifications for the 100% French position. Solsrud had a good sense
of how
each candidate's Perceiver went by listening to the responses of the candidates. Prior to
starting the
interviews for the 100% French position, Solsrud had heard that there had been conflict
between
Complainant and Knaack. Solsrud believes that she learned about this conflict when a
secretary had
discussed it with her because there had been loud shouting. Solsrud was not influenced by
her
knowledge of this conflict when she made her selection for the 100% French position. Prior
to June
1, 1998, Solsrud had not discussed Complainant being a 100% FTE French teacher with
Dodd,
Knaack or Sheehan and was not aware that Complainant had received the June 3, 1998
reprimand
letter. At the time that the interview team selected Bouffleur, Solsrud did not have a belief
that
Knaack, Sheehan or any other administrator did not want Complainant to be a 100% FTE
teacher.
Solsrud's experience with Complainant persuaded her that he did not deal well with conflict
and had
poor problem resolution skills when dealing with other teachers. Complainant's interview
statements
regarding how he handled conflicts at the Junior High was not a factor in Solsrud's selection
decision.

25. At the time of the interviews for the 100% French position, Johansen knew
that
Complainant had been laid off; that there had been a lawsuit; that Complainant had conflicts
with
teachers; and that Complainant had filed a grievance, but did not know the particulars of the
grievance. Johansen's knowledge of this grievance did not lead him to conclude that any
District
administrator might not want Complainant to be chosen for the 100% French position. Dodd
did not
discuss with Johansen how Dodd wanted the interview and selection process for the 100%
FTE
French teacher to be handled. At the time of the selection of Bouffleur as the top candidate
for the
100% French position, Johansen was not aware of any animosity between Complainant and
Dodd and
had not heard any allegation that, at a meeting during the summer of 1998, that Complainant
had
threatened Dodd. Johansen did not know whether Sheehan, Dodd, or Knaack wanted
Complainant
to be hired, or to not be hired, for the 100% French position. Johansen was surprised when
Hazaert
told Johansen that he had been selected to interview candidates for the 100% French position
because
normally the Junior High principal would do this. Hazaert told Johansen that the District
wanted an
unbiased interviewer, but Hazaert did not say that Knaack would be biased. Johansen neither
inferred, nor believed, that Knaack would be biased because Complainant had had conflicts
with
Knaack. Johansen concluded that the District did not put Knaack on the interview team as a
precaution, i.e., to avoid any claim by others that Knaack was biased against
Complainant. Johansen
considered the direction to interview Complainant to be a reflection of the fact that
Complainant was
a District teacher. Johansen did not draw any negative conclusion from the fact that

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Complainant had been laid off and considered Complainant's situation to be similar to
that of Skadahl,
who he understood had been reduced; reapplied for a position and interviewed for a position.
Johansen knew that Complainant would be interviewed prior to screening the other
applications.
Johansen did not read Complainant's application at the time that applications were initially
screened,
but read it at some point in the interview process and was surprised by the cover letter.
Johansen
reads what is in the application and would have read Complainant's observation reports if
they had
been included in Complainant's application materials. The fact that Johansen still recalls the
cover
letter as a negative persuades him that the cover letter may have been a factor in his decision
to not
rank Complainant in the top two. Johansen's belief that Bouffleur was an intern was a factor
in
Johansen's decision because it lead him to conclude that she had student taught for 18 weeks,
rather
than 9 weeks, which persuaded him to give more credence to the report from her cooperating
teacher.
Johansen was not aware that Complainant had been an intern. Johansen asked Hazaert what
the
scores were for each of the interview candidates. Johansen did not consider Hazaert to have
made
any errors in scoring the Perceiver. In determining his top two candidates, Johansen did not
rely on
the total score of the Perceiver, or whether or not an individual was a predict or nonpredict,
but
rather listened to the questions as they were being asked and used his training in
administering the
Perceiver to assess the candidates' strengths and weaknesses within the various categories of
the
Perceiver. Johansen used his personal interview questions to follow through on his
assessment of
candidate strengths. Prior to asking Hazaert for the Perceiver scores, Johansen had an
impression
with respect to Complainant's strength and weaknesses. Johansen's primary concern about
Complainant was Complainant's failure to demonstrate to Johansen that Complainant was
using the
methodologies taught by the District in his classrooms and Johansen's conclusion that
Complainant
had interpersonal skill problems. Johansen had a specific concern that Complainant was
weak in
"Dimensions of Learning." Johansen considered Bouffleur to have demonstrated that she
was of
capable utilizing the training that she had received and applying this training in the
classroom.
Specifically, Johansen concluded that Bouffleur demonstrated her use of cooperative learning
in the
classroom, while Complainant demonstrated that he received training from the District and
then
ignored the training and went his own way. Complainant's interview caused Johansen to
question
whether or not Complainant developed and followed through on lesson plans. Johansen
selected
Bouffleur as his first choice and Delsarte as his second choice for the position. Johansen's
conclusion
that Complainant had interpersonal skill problems was based upon Complainant's recitation
of the
problems that he had had with administration and other teachers, including Berns. Johansen,
who had
been involved in a number of employment interviews, had never heard an applicant recite as
many
conflicts with his peers. Johansen was especially troubled by the fact that Complainant's
conflicts
were with other members of Complainant's department. In Johansen's view, Complainant's
conflicts
with other Foreign Language Department teachers would negatively impact upon the
Department's
ability to move forward on curriculum and implement new programs. In Johansen's opinion,
a
successful teacher must be able to get along with colleagues and that this ability is especially
necessary in the District's middle

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school, which utilized team teaching. Johansen has supervised Berns for a number of
years and gets
along quite well with Berns. Johansen selected his top two candidates based upon the
knowledge that
he gained in the interview process and was not influenced by the fact that Complainant had
filed a
grievance. Johansen chose Bouffleur as his top candidate because he thought that she would
do the
best job at the Junior High. Johansen considered Bouffleur's interview, unlike that of
Complainant,
to be a positive interview and she made him more comfortable. After the interviews were
finished,
the interview team selected Bouffleur as the best candidate for the 100% French position and
Bouffleur was hired into the 100% French position. Bouffleur's and Complainant's
application
materials and interview transcript reasonably support Johansen's conclusions regarding
Bouffleur's
and Complainant's respective qualifications for the 100% French position.

26. By letter dated July 15, 1998, Jaworski provided notice to Complainant that
Complainant
had not received the 100% French position. After completion of the interview process and
the
interview team's selection of Bouffleur as the successful applicant, Hazaert discussed the
interview
process with Dodd. During this discussion, Hazaert advised Dodd that Hazaert considered
Complainant's application cover letter to show a disregard for the District's hiring process;
that
Complainant was a marginal predict; and that Complainant had mentioned disputes with
colleagues
that were not yet settled. Hazaert also reviewed the interview team's rationale for selecting
Delsarte
and Bouffleur as their top two candidates.

27. On July 7, 1998, Complainant and LaBarge submitted a grievance alleging that
the
District violated the collective bargaining agreement by laying off Complainant. This
grievance was
subsequently amended to allege that the District had violated the collective bargaining
agreement by
failing to award Complainant a full-time French position for the 1998-99 school year. On
September
9, 1998, the District Board of Education met in a closed session for the purpose of
considering
Complainant's amended grievance. In response to questioning from the Respondent's
Attorney,
UniServ Director Garnier indicated that the amended grievance encompassed the grievance
filed on
June 5, 1998 and Complainant's layoff. Garnier was provided with the opportunity to speak
in
support of the grievance; Complainant was provided with the opportunity to speak in support
of the
grievance; and Dodd was provided with the opportunity to explain the decision to lay off
Complainant
and to not hire Complainant for the 100% French position. Dodd's explanation included the
assertion
that, under Article 32(1), the District has the right to layoff part-time teachers; that Article
32(I) had
been used in the past; that the contract language provides the District with the right to
enlarge the
pool of candidates and to improve staff; that Complainant was hired from a pool of two
applicants;
that Knaack had contacted Complainant on May 18, 1998 to see if he would be interested in
a 100%
French position, but after May 27, 1998, Knaack contacted Dodd and said not to make
Complainant
100% FTE, but rather, to post a 30% position; that no candidates were available for the 30%
position; and that on June 10, 1998, a decision was made to lay off Complainant under
Article 32(I).
Dodd explained that the decision to lay off

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was influenced by Complainant's conduct in disputing the need to return to his study
hall; not
returning to the study hall until he was repeatedly told to return; subsequently demanding an
apology
from Knaack and Sheehan; conducting himself in such a loud and raucous manner that
students had
to be removed from the office; and that, throughout the years, there were instances which
illustrated
that Complainant was not a team player. Dodd also indicated that there was a concern that
Complainant was not using communication with other teachers as a way of obtaining teaching
ideas.
Dodd explained that the interview team for the 100% position was told to complete the
process as
for every position and that, in selecting candidates for District positions, the District relied
upon
applications, recommendations, Perceiver and questions germane to the District. Dodd
explained that
the District did not rely upon year-end evaluations or observation reports because only
Complainant
would have those in his file and such reliance would skew the process. During the portion
of the
meeting in which Complainant was present, various School Board members, but not
Leonard, asked
questions. The District's attorney, Dodd and Garnier responded to these questions. Knaack
was
present at the hearing, but was not asked any questions and did not make any statements at
the
hearing. After hearing the positions of the Association, Complainant and the Administration,
the
School Board deliberated for forty-five minutes in closed session, outside the presence of the
administrators, and decided to uphold the administration decision to provide notice to
Complainant
that he was laid off from his part-time position and to deny the two grievances, as amended.
The
minutes of this September 9, 1998 meeting, as with all minutes of School Board Meetings,
are not
verbatim. Dodd reviews the minutes of School Board meetings to ensure that they are
accurate with
respect to motions.

28. Between May 28, 1998 and June 1, 1998, Knaack made the decision to not
offer
Complainant a 100% position and to post a 30% French and supervision position. Knaack's
rationale
for posting a 30% position was that he needed more supervision for the 1998-99 school year
and he
believed that a 30% posting would be sufficient to attract a qualified applicant to teach the
available
French section. Knaack did not want to raise Complainant to a 100% position because he
was
dissatisfied with Complainant's relationship with his co-workers and considered Complainant
to be
responsible for a negative atmosphere in the Junior High Building. Knaack did not give any
consideration to the fact that Complainant had filed a grievance when he decided to post the
30%
position. Knaack's decision to not offer Complainant a 100% position and to post a 30%
French and
supervision position was not motivated, in any part, by hostility toward Complainant's
grievance
activity.

29. Between June 4, 1998 and June 10, 1998, Knaack decided to recommend to
Dodd that
Complainant be laid off. Knaack decided to recommend Complainant's layoff because he
concluded
that there may be someone available for the 100% position that was as good, or better than
Complainant. In reaching this conclusion, Knaack primarily gave consideration to his belief
that there
was a negative atmosphere in the Junior High school which had resulted from the
Soto-Martin
lawsuit; Complainant's less than exemplary

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Dec. No. 29946-L

relationship with Berns; Complainant's refusal to return to his study hall when
repeatedly directed
to do so by Sheehan; the FYI's; and Complainant's threats against Knaack and Sheehan on
June 2,
1998. Knaack also thought that Complainant had a number of grievances that were being
filed for
different situations. Knaack's concern over the number of grievances that were being filed
by
Complainant was not a major factor in Knaack's decision to recommend that Complainant be
laid off.
By thinking about the number of grievances that were being filed for different situations
when
concluding that there may be someone available for the 100% position that was as good, or
better
than Complainant, Knaack exhibited hostility to protected, concerted activity. In June of
1998 and
at hearing, Knaack feared that Complainant would do something irrational and that this
irrational
behavior possibly could be something violent. Knaack's decision to recommend
Complainant's layoff
to Dodd was motivated, in part, by Knaack's hostility to Complainant for filing a number of
grievances, but Knaack's decision to recommend Complainant's layoff to Dodd was not
triggered by
Knaack's hostility to Complainant's grievance activity, but rather, was precipitated by a
number of
legitimate business concerns.

30. Knaack did not have authority to layoff Complainant or to recommend to the
School
Board that Complainant be laid off. Dodd did not have authority to layoff Complainant but
did have
authority to effectively recommend to the School Board that Complainant be laid off. Dodd
did not
defer to Knaack's judgment when deciding to layoff Complainant. Dodd's decision to
recommend
the layoff of Complainant was based upon Dodd's independent consideration of a number of
legitimate business concerns. Dodd's decision to recommend the layoff of Complainant to
the School
Board was not tainted by the unlawful hostility of Knaack, or of any other individual. The
School
Board's decision to accept Dodd's recommendation to layoff Complainant was not tainted by
the
unlawful hostility of Knaack, or any other individual.

31. Hazaert, Solsrud, and Johansen's evaluation of the qualifications of the
applicants for
the 100% French position was based upon legitimate business considerations. These
legitimate
business considerations lead Hazaert, Solsrud, and Johansen to decide that Bouffleur and not
Complainant was the best candidate for the 100% French position. Hazaert, Solsrud and
Johansen's
decision to select Bouffleur and not Complainant for the 100% French position was not
tainted by
the unlawful hostility of Knaack, or any other individual. Respondent's decision to hire
Bouffleur into
the 100% French position and to not hire Complainant into the 100% French position was
not tainted
by the unlawful hostility of Knaack, or any other individual.

32. Complainant's behavior during his encounters with Michael Sheehan on
May 27, 28,
and 29, 1998 and on June 1 and 2, 1998; during his encounter with Robert Knaack on the
morning
of May 28, 1998; and during his encounter with Michael Sheehan and Robert Knaack on
June 2,
1998, manifests and furthers a purely individual, rather than a collective concern.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

33. Complainant's behavior prior to meeting with representatives of the D.C.
Everest
Teacher's Association to discuss and prepare the October 29, 1997 grievance manifests and
furthers
a purely individual, rather than a collective concern.

Based upon the above and foregoing Findings of Fact, the Examiner makes and issues
the
following:

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. Complainant George Mudrovich is a municipal employee within the meaning
of
Section 111.70(1)(i), Stats.

2. Respondent D. C. Everest Area School District is a municipal employer within
the
meaning of Section 111.70(1)(j), Stats., and at all times material hereto, Roger Dodd, Robert
Knaack,
Michael Sheehan, Daniel Hazaert, Thomas Johansen, and Corinne Solsrud have acted on
behalf of
the Respondent.

3. Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of
collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection when he used the contractual grievance
procedure to file
and process his grievance of October 29, 1997, and when Complainant sought the assistance
of
representatives of the D.C. Everest Teacher's Association to prepare, file and process this
grievance
through the contractual grievance procedure.

4. Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of
collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection when, on May 28, 1998, he first announced an
intent to
file grievances if Michael Sheehan did not apologize to Complainant and if the District
denied
Complainant a 100% French position if one should be available and when he subsequently
announced
an intent to file such grievances.

5. Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of
collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection when he filed and processed his grievance of
June 5,
1998 through the contractual grievance procedure and when Complainant sought the
assistance of
representatives of the D.C. Everest Teacher's Association to prepare, file and process this
grievance,
as subsequently amended, through the contractual grievance procedure.

6. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that,
prior
to meeting with the D.C. Everest Teacher's Association to discuss and prepare the October
29, 1997
grievance, Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of
collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

7. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of collective
bargaining or
other mutual aid or protection during his encounters with Michael Sheehan on May 27, 28,
and 29,
1998 and on June 1 and 2, 1998.

8. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Complainant was engaged in lawful, concerted activity for the purpose of collective
bargaining or
other mutual aid or protection during his encounter with Robert Knaack on the morning of
May 28,
1998 or during his encounter with Michael Sheehan and Robert Knaack on June 2, 1998.

9. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Roger
Dodd, Daniel Hazaert, Thomas Johansen, Corinne Solsrud, Michael Sheehan or any member
of the
School Board, is hostile to Complainant's exercise of lawful, concerted activity.

10. Robert Knaack's decision to recommend the layoff of Complainant to Roger
Dodd
was motivated, in part, by Knaack's hostility to Complainant's protected, concerted activity
in filing
a number of grievances for different situations and, thus, by this decision of its representative
Robert
Knaack, Respondent has violated Sec. 111.70(3)(a)3, Stats., and derivatively violated Sec.
111.70(3)(a)1, Stats.

11. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Roger
Dodd's decision to recommend the layoff of Complainant to the School Board was motivated,
in any
part, by hostility to Complainant's protected, concerted activity.

12. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
the
School Board's decision to layoff Complainant was motivated, in any part, by hostility to
Complainant's protected, concerted activity.

13. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
the
interview team's selection of Beth Bouffleur as the best candidate for the 100% French
position was
motivated, in any part, by hostility to Complainant's protected, concerted activity.

14. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Respondent's decision to hire Beth Bouffleur, rather than Complainant, for the 100% French
position
was motivated, in any part, by hostility to Complainant's protected, concerted activity.

15. A clear and satisfactory preponderance of the evidence does not establish that
Respondent violated Sec. 111.70(3)(a)1 or (3), Stats., when it laid off Complainant and did
not hire
Complainant into a 100% French position.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

Based upon the above and foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the
Examiner
makes and issues the following:

ORDER

1. Complainant's allegations that Respondent violated Sec.
111.70(3)(a)1 and 3, Stats.,
when it laid-off Complainant and did not hire Complainant into a 100% French
position are hereby dismissed in their entirety.

2. To remedy the violations of Sec. 111.70(3)(a)3, and derivatively
Sec. 111.70(3)(a)
1, Stats., committed by its representative Robert Knaack, IT IS ORDERED
THAT
the Respondent, its officers and agents shall immediately:

a. Cease and desist from considering the number of grievances
filed by
an employee when making a decision to recommend the lay off an
employee.

b. Take the following affirmative action, which will
effectuate the
purposes and policies of the Municipal Employment Relations Act:

(1) Notify all teachers represented by the D.C. Everest
Teacher's
Association, by posting in conspicuous places in Respondent's offices
and buildings where such teachers are employed, copies of the Notice
attached hereto and marked "Appendix A." This notice shall be
signed by an authorized representative of the Respondent and shall be
posted immediately upon receipt of a copy of this Order and shall
remain posted for a period of sixty days (60) thereafter. Reasonable
steps shall be taken by the Respondent to insure that this Notice is not
altered, defaced or covered by other material.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

(2) Notify the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission
within twenty (20) days following the date of this Order of the steps
taken to comply herewith.

Dated at Madison, Wisconsin, this 15th day of August, 2003.

WISCONSIN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION

Coleen A.
Burns, Examiner

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Dec. No. 29946-L

APPENDIX "A"

NOTICE TO ALL TEACHERS REPRESENTED BY
THE DCETA

Pursuant to an order of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, and in
order to
effectuate the purposes of the Municipal Employment Relations Act, we hereby notify our
employees
that:

Principals employed by the D. C. Everest School District will not consider the
number of
grievances filed by an employee when making a decision to recommend the lay off an
employee.

D. C. Everest School District

__________________________

THIS NOTICE WILL BE POSTED IN THE LOCATIONS
CUSTOMARILY USED FOR
POSTING NOTICES TO TEACHERS REPRESENTED BY DCETA FOR A PERIOD OF
SIXTY (60) DAYS FROM THE DATE HEREOF. THIS NOTICE IS NOT TO BE
ALTERED, DEFACED, COVERED OR OBSCURED IN ANY WAY.

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Dec. No. 29946-L

D.C. EVEREST SCHOOL DISTRICT

MEMORANDUM ACCOMPANYING FINDINGS
OF FACT,

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND
ORDER

On May 26, 1999, Complainant filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Employment
Relations
Commission alleging that the D.C. Everest Area School District had committed prohibited
practices
in violation of Section 111.70(3)(a)1 and 3, Stats., when the administration recommended
Complainant's layoff and the District School Board members approved the same and rejected
his
application for full-time employment. On August 14, 2000, Respondent filed an answer
denying that
it had committed the alleged prohibited practices.

On August 24, 2000, the Examiner issued an Order Denying Motion To Adopt
Arbitrator's
Finding of Fact That Respondent Was Motivated In Part By Complainant's Protected Union
Activity
When Respondent Laid Complainant Off On June 23, 1998 (Dec. No. 29946-A). On August
31,
2000, the Examiner issued an Order Denying Complainant's Motion to Disqualify Attorneys
Ronald
Rutlin, Cari Westerhof and Dean Dietrich To Act As Advocates For Respondent For The
Instant
Prohibitive (sic) Practice Case (Dec. No. 29946-B). On September 13, 2000, the Examiner
issued
an Order Denying Motion To Permit Complainant To Conduct Depositions Prior To The
Hearing
(Dec. No. 29946-C). On September 19, 2000, the Examiner issued an Order Denying
Complainant's
Motion To Compel Respondent To Declare, Prior To The Hearing, Exactly Which Teachers
Respondent Claims To Have Laid Off Under The Provisions Of Article 32(I) (Dec. No.
29946-D).
On September 22, 2000, the Examiner issued an Order Denying Motion To Compel
Respondent To
Furnish Copies Of Various Documents To Complainant And/Or Make Them Available For
Complainant's Inspection (Dec. No. 29946-E). On October 11, 2000, the Examiner issued
an Order
Denying Complainant's Motion To Amend Complaint (Dec. No. 29946-F). On March 29,
2001, the
Examiner issued an Order Granting Respondent's Motion To Quash Subpoena Duces Tecum
(Dec.
No. 29946-G). On April 2, 2001, the Examiner issued an Order Denying Complainant's
Motion
Requesting That The Examiner Conduct In-camera Inspections of the Personnel Files of D.C.
Everest
Teachers Who Had Originally Been Hired On A Part-time Basis, But Were Later Increased
To Full-time Status, In Order To Ascertain The Size Of The Original Applicant Pools of
Said Teachers (Dec.
No. 29946-H). On April 2, 2001, the Examiner issued an Order Denying Complainant's
Motion To
Enter Into Evidence Appendix "A" Which Was Attached To Complainant's March 5,
2001 Motion
Which Requested An In-camera Inspection Of Certain Personnel Records (Dec. No. 29946-I)
and
an Order Denying Complainant's Motion In Limine (Dec. No. 29946-J). On June 18, 2001,
the
Examiner issued an Order Denying Complainant's Motion to Reopen Hearing (Dec.
No. 29946-K).

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Dec. No. 29946-L

POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

Complainant

In searching for the truth, the Examiner must not permit witnesses to cavalierly
disregard their
duty to provide truthful answers. The Examiner should not reward a witness who obstructs
the truth,
or testifies falsely.

In this hearing, the most flagrant disregard for the truth was demonstrated by
Leonard.
Although Leonard, as School Board President, was in the position to know all of the relevant
facts,
she purposefully gave false testimony and used convenient excuses that "she could not recall"
for the
sole purpose of preventing the Examiner from hearing the truth. Had she told the truth, all
necessary
elements of a prohibited practice would have been established. With respect to Leonard's
testimony,
all inferences against Respondent's interest must be made and judgment must be granted in
favor of
Complainant.

The false and misleading testimony of Dodd, Knaack and Hazaert further establishes
that the
District was guilty of intentionally misleading the Examiner. If such individuals had testified
fully and
truthfully, Complainant's prohibited practices complaint would have been proved by the very
individuals accused of wrongdoing.

Under Muskego-Norway, Complainant must establish the following four elements:

1) Complainant was engaged in concerted union
activities protected by MERA; and

2) The Employer had
knowledge of those activities

3) The Employer was hostile
toward those activities

4) The Employer's action was
based, at least in part, on hostility towards those activities

On October 29, 1997, and June 5, 1998, Complainant filed grievances with the
assistance and
support of DCETA President LaBarge and UniServ Director Coffey. This conduct of
Complainant
involved concerted union activities protected by MERA. District administrators, including
Knaack
and Dodd, knew that Complainant had filed these grievances.

Complainant also was engaged in concerted union activity during a continuum of
events from
May 28 through June 2, 1998. This concerted union activity involved Complainant's
asserting his
contractual rights to be treated like any other similarly situated employee and Complainant's
announcement that Complainant intended to file grievances if Complainant were not given an
available French class and if Sheehan did not apologize to Complainant. District
administrators were
aware of this concerted union activity.